Disclaimer: I know that implicit conversion to string should be avoided, and that the proper approach would be an op<< overload for Person.
Consider the following code:
#include <string>
#include <ostream>
#include <iostream>
struct NameType {
operator std::string() { return "wobble"; }
};
struct Person {
NameType name;
};
int main() {
std::cout << std::string("bobble");
std::cout << "wibble";
Person p;
std::cout << p.name;
}
It yields the following on GCC 4.3.4:
prog.cpp: In function ‘int main()’:
prog.cpp:18: error: no match for ‘operator<<’ in ‘std::cout << p.Person::name’
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:112: note: candidates are: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:121: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>& (*)(std::basic_ios<_CharT, _Traits>&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:131: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::ios_base& (*)(std::ios_base&)) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:169: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:173: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:177: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(bool) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:97: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:184: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(short unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:111: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:195: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:204: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:208: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long long unsigned int) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:213: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:217: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(float) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:225: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(long double) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/ostream:229: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(const void*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
/usr/lib/gcc/i686-pc-linux-gnu/4.3.4/include/g++-v4/bits/ostream.tcc:125: note: std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>& std::basic_ostream<_CharT, _Traits>::operator<<(std::basic_streambuf<_CharT, _Traits>*) [with _CharT = char, _Traits = std::char_traits<char>]
How come the free op<<(ostream&, string const&) doesn't make it into the overload set? Is this due to a combination of the desired overload being a template instantiation and ... ADL?
14.8.1/4 in C++98
Implicit conversions (clause 4) will be performed on a function argument to convert it to the type of the corresponding function parameter if the parameter type contains no template-parameters that participate in template argument deduction.
Here you would like an instantiation of
template <class charT, class traits, class Allocator>
basic_ostream<charT, traits>&
operator<<(basic_ostream<charT, traits>&,
const basic_string<charT, traits, Allocator>&);
to be deduced without providing explicitly any template arguments. So all of the arguments contain a template-parameter that participates in the template argument deduction and thus none of them can get its value from an implicit conversion.