Operator[][] overload

Question

Is it possible to overload [] operator twice? To allow, something like this: function[3][3](like in a two dimensional array).

If it is pos

Answer 1

The shortest and easiest solution:

class Matrix
{
public:
  float m_matrix[4][4];

// for statements like matrix[0][0] = 1;
  float* operator [] (int index) 
  {
    return m_matrix[index];
  }

// for statements like matrix[0][0] = otherMatrix[0][0];
  const float* operator [] (int index) const 
  {
    return m_matrix[index];
  }

};

Answer 2

template<class F>
struct indexer_t{
  F f;
  template<class I>
  std::result_of_t<F const&(I)> operator[](I&&i)const{
    return f(std::forward<I>(i))1;
  }
};
template<class F>
indexer_t<std::decay_t<F>> as_indexer(F&& f){return {std::forward<F>(f)};}

This lets you take a lambda, and produce an indexer (with [] support).

Suppose you have an operator() that supports passing both coordinates at onxe as two arguments. Now writing [][] support is just:

auto operator[](size_t i){
  return as_indexer(
    [i,this](size_t j)->decltype(auto)
    {return (*this)(i,j);}
  );
}

auto operator[](size_t i)const{
  return as_indexer(
    [i,this](size_t j)->decltype(auto)
    {return (*this)(i,j);}
  );
}

And done. No custom class required.

Answer 3

If, instead of saying a[x][y], you would like to say a[{x,y}], you can do like this:

struct Coordinate {  int x, y; }

class Matrix {
    int** data;
    operator[](Coordinate c) {
        return data[c.y][c.x];
    }
}

Answer 4

With a std::vector<std::vector<type*>>, you can build the inside vector using custom input operator that iterate over your data and return a pointer to each data.

For example:

size_t w, h;
int* myData = retrieveData(&w, &h);

std::vector<std::vector<int*> > data;
data.reserve(w);

template<typename T>
struct myIterator : public std::iterator<std::input_iterator_tag, T*>
{
    myIterator(T* data) :
      _data(data)
    {}
    T* _data;

    bool operator==(const myIterator& rhs){return rhs.data == data;}
    bool operator!=(const myIterator& rhs){return rhs.data != data;}
    T* operator*(){return data;}
    T* operator->(){return data;}

    myIterator& operator++(){data = &data[1]; return *this; }
};

for (size_t i = 0; i < w; ++i)
{
    data.push_back(std::vector<int*>(myIterator<int>(&myData[i * h]),
        myIterator<int>(&myData[(i + 1) * h])));
}

Live example

This solution has the advantage of providing you with a real STL container, so you can use special for loops, STL algorithms, and so on.

for (size_t i = 0; i < w; ++i)
  for (size_t j = 0; j < h; ++j)
    std::cout << *data[i][j] << std::endl;

However, it does create vectors of pointers, so if you're using small datastructures such as this one you can directly copy the content inside the array.

Answer 5

It is possible if you return some kind of proxy class in first [] call. However, there is other option: you can overload operator() that can accept any number of arguments (function(3,3)).

Answer 6

vector< vector< T > > or T** is required only when you have rows of variable length and way too inefficient in terms of memory usage/allocations if you require rectangular array consider doing some math instead! see at() method:

template<typename T > class array2d {

protected:
    std::vector< T > _dataStore;
    size_t _sx;

public:
    array2d(size_t sx, size_t sy = 1): _sx(sx), _dataStore(sx*sy) {}
    T& at( size_t x, size_t y ) { return _dataStore[ x+y*sx]; }
    const T& at( size_t x, size_t y ) const { return _dataStore[ x+y*sx]; }
    const T& get( size_t x, size_t y ) const { return at(x,y); }
    void set( size_t x, size_t y, const T& newValue ) { at(x,y) = newValue; }
};