Default comparisons (since C++20)

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

C++ language

General topics
Preprocessor Comments	Keywords Escape sequences
Flow control
Conditional execution statements
if	switch
Iteration statements (loops)
for range-for (C++11)	while do-while
Jump statements
continue - break	goto - return
Functions
Function declaration
Lambda function expression
inline specifier
Dynamic exception specifications (until C++17*)
noexcept specifier (C++11)
Exceptions
throw-expression try block	handler
Namespaces
Namespace declaration	Namespace aliases
Types
Fundamental types Enumeration types Function types	Class/struct types Union types
Specifiers
const/volatile decltype (C++11) auto (C++11)	constexpr (C++11) consteval (C++20) constinit (C++20)
Storage duration specifiers
Initialization
Default-initialization Value-initialization Zero-initialization Copy-initialization Direct-initialization	Aggregate initialization List-initialization (C++11)   Constant initialization Reference initialization

Expressions
Value categories Order of evaluation	Operators Operator precedence
Alternative representations
Literals
Boolean - Integer - Floating-point
Character - String - nullptr (C++11)
User-defined (C++11)
Utilities
Attributes (C++11)
Types
typedef declaration
Type alias declaration (C++11)
Casts
Implicit conversions static_cast const_cast	Explicit conversions dynamic_cast reinterpret_cast
Memory allocation
new expression	delete expression
Classes
Class declaration Constructors this pointer	Access specifiers friend specifier
Class-specific function properties
Virtual function override specifier (C++11)   final specifier (C++11)	explicit (C++11) static
Special member functions
Default constructor Copy constructor Move constructor (C++11)	Copy assignment Move assignment (C++11) Destructor
Templates
Class template Function template	Template specialization Parameter packs (C++11)
Miscellaneous
Inline assembly	History of C++

 

Expressions

General
Value categories Order of evaluation Constant expressions Primary expressions	Lambda expressions (C++11) Requires expressions (C++20) Pack indexing expression (C++26) Potentially-evaluated expressions
Literals
Integer literals Floating-point literals Boolean literals Character literals	Escape sequences String literals Null pointer literal (C++11) User-defined literal (C++11)
Operators
Assignment operators Increment and decrement Arithmetic operators Logical operators Comparison operators Member access operators Other operators new-expression delete-expression throw-expression	alignof sizeof sizeof... (C++11) typeid noexcept (C++11) Fold expressions (C++17) Alternative representations of operators Precedence and associativity Operator overloading Default comparisons (C++20)
Conversions
Implicit conversions Explicit conversions Usual arithmetic conversions     User-defined conversion	const_cast static_cast dynamic_cast reinterpret_cast

 

Provides a way to request the compiler to generate consistent relational operators for a class.

Syntax

return_type class_name::operatorop( const class_name & ) const &(optional) = default;	(1)
friend return_type operatorop( const class_name &, const class_name & ) = default;	(2)
friend return_type operatorop( class_name, class_name ) = default;	(3)

op	-	a comparison operator (<=>, ==, !=, <, >, <=, or >=)
return_type	-	return type of the operator function. Must be bool if op is not <=>; otherwise see below

Explanation

1) Declare the defaulted comparison function as a member function.

2) Declare the defaulted comparison function as a non-member function.

3) Declare the defaulted comparison function as a non-member function. Arguments are passed by value.

The three-way comparison function (whether defaulted or not) is called whenever values are compared using <, >, <=, >=, or <=> and overload resolution selects this overload.

The equality comparison function (whether defaulted or not) is called whenever values are compared using == or != and overload resolution selects this overload.

Defaulted three-way comparison

The default operator<=> performs lexicographical comparison by successively comparing the base (left-to-right depth-first) and then non-static member (in declaration order) subobjects of T to compute <=>, recursively expanding array members (in order of increasing subscript), and stopping early when a not-equal result is found, that is:

for /*each base or member subobject o of T*/
  if (auto cmp = lhs.o <=> rhs.o; cmp != 0) return cmp;
return strong_ordering::equal; // converts to everything

It is unspecified whether virtual base subobjects are compared more than once.

If the declared return type is auto, then the actual return type is std::common_comparison_category_t<Ms> where Ms is the list (possibly empty) of the types of base and member subobject and member array elements to be compared. This makes it easier to write cases where the return type non-trivially depends on the members, such as:

template<class T1, class T2>
struct P {
 T1 x1;
 T2 x2;
 friend auto operator<=>(const P&, const P&) = default;
};

Otherwise, the return type must be one of the three comparison types (see above), and is ill-formed if the expression m1 <=> m2 for any base or member subobject or member array element is not implicitly convertible to the chosen return type.

The defaulted operator<=> is implicitly deleted and returns void if not all base and member subobjects have a compiler-generated or user-declared operator<=> declared in their scope (i.e., as a nonstatic member or as a friend) whose result is one of the std:: comparison category types

Per the rules for any operator<=> overload, a defaulted <=> overload will also allow the type to be compared with <, <=, >, and >=.

If operator<=> is defaulted and operator== is not declared at all, then operator== is implicitly defaulted.

Run this code

#include <compare>
struct Point {
  int x;
  int y;
  auto operator<=>(const Point&) const = default;
  // ... non-comparison functions ...
};
// compiler generates all four relational operators
 
#include <iostream>
#include <set>
int main() {
  Point pt1{1, 1}, pt2{1, 2};
  std::set<Point> s; // ok
  s.insert(pt1);     // ok
  std::cout << std::boolalpha
    << (pt1 == pt2) << ' ' // false; operator== is implicitly defaulted.
    << (pt1 != pt2) << ' ' // true
    << (pt1 <  pt2) << ' ' // true
    << (pt1 <= pt2) << ' ' // true
    << (pt1 >  pt2) << ' ' // false
    << (pt1 >= pt2) << ' ';// false
}

Defaulted equality comparison

A class can define operator== as defaulted, with a return value of bool. This will generate an equality comparison of each base class and member subobject, in their declaration order. Two objects are equal if the values of their base classes and members are equal. The test will short-circuit if an inequality is found in members or base classes earlier in declaration order.

Per the rules for operator==, this will also allow inequality testing:

Run this code

struct Point {
  int x;
  int y;
  bool operator==(const Point&) const = default;
  // ... non-comparison functions ...
};
// compiler generates element-wise equality testing
 
#include <iostream>
int main() {
  Point pt1{3, 5}, pt2{2, 5};
  std::cout << std::boolalpha
    << (pt1 != pt2) << '\n'  // true
    << (pt1 == pt1) << '\n'; // true
  struct [[maybe_unused]] { int x{}, y{}; } p, q;
  // if (p == q) { } // Error: 'operator==' is not defined
}

Other defaulted comparison operators

Any of the four relational operators can be explicitly defaulted. A defaulted relational operator must have the return type bool.

Such operator will be deleted if overload resolution over x <=> y (considering also operator<=> with reversed order of parameters) fails, or if this operator@ is not applicable to the result of that x<=>y. Otherwise, the defaulted operator@ calls x <=> y @ 0 if an operator<=> with the original order of parameters was selected by overload resolution, or 0 @ y <=> x otherwise:

struct HasNoRelational {};
 
struct C {
  friend HasNoRelational operator<=>(const C&, const C&);
  bool operator<(const C&) = default;                       // ok, function is deleted
};

Similarly, operator!= can be defaulted. It is deleted if overload resolution over x == y (considering also operator== with reversed order of parameters) fails, or if the result of x == y does not have type bool. The defaulted operator!= calls !(x == y) or !(y == x) as selected by overload resolution.

Defaulting the relational operators can be useful in order to create functions whose addresses may be taken. For other uses, it is sufficient to provide only operator<=> and operator==.

Custom comparisons

When the default semantics are not suitable, such as when the members must be compared out of order, or must use a comparison that's different from their natural comparison, then the programmer can write operator<=> and let the compiler generate the appropriate relational operators. The kind of relational operators generated depends on the return type of the user-defined operator<=>.

There are three available return types:

Return type	Operators	Equivalent values are..	Incomparable values are..
std::strong_ordering	== != < > <= >=	indistinguishable	not allowed
std::weak_ordering	== != < > <= >=	distinguishable	not allowed
std::partial_ordering	== != < > <= >=	distinguishable	allowed

Strong ordering

An example of a custom operator<=> that returns std::strong_ordering is an operator that compares every member of a class, except in order that is different from the default (here: last name first)

Run this code

#include <compare>
#include <string>
struct Base {
    std::string zip;
    auto operator<=>(const Base&) const = default;
};
struct TotallyOrdered : Base {
  std::string tax_id;
  std::string first_name;
  std::string last_name;
public:
 // custom operator<=> because we want to compare last names first:
 std::strong_ordering operator<=>(const TotallyOrdered& that) const {
   if (auto cmp = (Base&)(*this) <=> (Base&)that; cmp != 0)
       return cmp;
   if (auto cmp = last_name <=> that.last_name; cmp != 0)
       return cmp;
   if (auto cmp = first_name <=> that.first_name; cmp != 0)
       return cmp;
   return tax_id <=> that.tax_id;
 }
 // ... non-comparison functions ...
};
// compiler generates all four relational operators
 
#include <cassert>
#include <set>
int main() {
  TotallyOrdered to1{"a","b","c","d"}, to2{"a","b","d","c"};
  std::set<TotallyOrdered> s; // ok
  s.insert(to1); // ok
  assert(to2 <= to1); // ok, single call to <=>
}

Note: an operator that returns a std::strong_ordering should compare every member, because if any member is left out, substitutability can be compromised: it becomes possible to distinguish two values that compare equal.

Weak ordering

An example of a custom operator<=> that returns std::weak_ordering is an operator that compares string members of a class in case-insensitive manner: this is different from the default comparison (so a custom operator is required) and it's possible to distinguish two strings that compare equal under this comparison

class CaseInsensitiveString {
  std::string s;
public:
  std::weak_ordering operator<=>(const CaseInsensitiveString& b) const {
    return case_insensitive_compare(s.c_str(), b.s.c_str());
  }
  std::weak_ordering operator<=>(const char* b) const {
    return case_insensitive_compare(s.c_str(), b);
  }
  // ... non-comparison functions ...
};
 
// Compiler generates all four relational operators
CaseInsensitiveString cis1, cis2;
std::set<CaseInsensitiveString> s; // ok
s.insert(/*...*/); // ok
if (cis1 <= cis2) { /*...*/ } // ok, performs one comparison operation
 
// Compiler also generates all eight heterogeneous relational operators
if (cis1 <= "xyzzy") { /*...*/ } // ok, performs one comparison operation
if ("xyzzy" >= cis1) { /*...*/ } // ok, identical semantics

Note that this example demonstrates the effect a heterogeneous operator<=> has: it generates heterogeneous comparisons in both directions.

Partial ordering

Partial ordering is an ordering that allows incomparable (unordered) values, such as NaN values in floating-point ordering, or, in this example, persons that are not related:

class PersonInFamilyTree { // ...
public:
  std::partial_ordering operator<=>(const PersonInFamilyTree& that) const {
    if (this->is_the_same_person_as ( that)) return partial_ordering::equivalent;
    if (this->is_transitive_child_of( that)) return partial_ordering::less;
    if (that. is_transitive_child_of(*this)) return partial_ordering::greater;
    return partial_ordering::unordered;
  }
  // ... non-comparison functions ...
};
// compiler generates all four relational operators
PersonInFamilyTree per1, per2;
if (per1 < per2) { /*...*/ } // ok, per2 is an ancestor of per1
else if (per1 > per2) { /*...*/ } // ok, per1 is an ancestor of per2
else if (std::is_eq(per1 <=> per2)) { /*...*/ } // ok, per1 is per2
else { /*...*/ } // per1 and per2 are unrelated
if (per1 <= per2) { /*...*/ } // ok, per2 is per1 or an ancestor of per1
if (per1 >= per2) { /*...*/ } // ok, per1 is per2 or an ancestor of per2
if (std::is_neq(per1 <=> per2)) { /*...*/ } // ok, per1 is not per2

See also

• overload resolution in a call to an overloaded operator
• Built-in three-way comparison operator
• Operator overloading for relational operators