Open In App

Self assignment check in assignment operator

Improve
Improve
Improve
Like Article
Like
Save Article
Save
Share
Report issue
Report

In C++, assignment operator should be overloaded with self assignment check.

For example, consider the following class Array and overloaded assignment operator function without self assignment check.




// A sample class
class Array {
 private:
   int *ptr;
   int size;
 public:
   Array& operator = (const Array &rhs);
   // constructors and other functions of class........
};
  
// Overloaded assignment operator for class Array (without self 
// assignment check)
Array& Array::operator = (const Array &rhs)
{
  // Deallocate old memory
  delete [] ptr;
  
  // allocate new space
  ptr = new int [rhs.size];
  
  // copy values
  size = rhs.size;
  for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
    ptr[i] = rhs.ptr[i];
  
  return *this
}


If we have an object say a1 of type Array and if we have a line like a1 = a1 somewhere, the program results in unpredictable behavior because there is no self assignment check in the above code. To avoid the above issue, self assignment check must be there while overloading assignment operator. For example, following code does self assignment check.




// Overloaded assignment operator for class Array (with self 
// assignment check)
Array& Array::operator = (const Array &rhs)
{
  /* SELF ASSIGNMENT CHECK */
  if(this != &rhs)
  {
    // Deallocate old memory
    delete [] ptr;
  
    // allocate new space
    ptr = new int [rhs.size];
  
    // copy values
    size = rhs.size;
    for(int i = 0; i < size; i++)
      ptr[i] = rhs.ptr[i];    
  }  
  
  return *this
}


References:
http://www.cs.caltech.edu/courses/cs11/material/cpp/donnie/cpp-ops.html



Last Updated : 29 May, 2017
Like Article
Save Article
Previous
Next
Share your thoughts in the comments
Similar Reads