Microsoft KB Archive/106392

= PRB: C2666 Error Generated with Overloaded Operator =

Article ID: 106392

Article Last Modified on 7/5/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.5 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.51
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 2.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 2.1
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Service Pack 5

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This article was previously published under Q106392





SYMPTOMS
The following error

C2666: '+' : 'number' overloads have similar conversions

is generated when there is no single or exact match between multiple operators. In some cases, the type conversion may look trivial but actually is not, and an explicit type conversion or typecast is needed to force the operators to match.



CAUSE
In the following sample, the line where the error is generated has the form: int + Fraction Because there is no exact match to the operators provided for this operation, a set of candidate operator + must be determined.

First, there are the user-supplied operators:   + ( long,            const Fraction& ) + ( const Fraction&, long ) + ( const Fraction&, const Fraction& ) Second, there are the built-in operators:   + ( int, float ) The above is chosen because it is "int" plus an arbitrary type, and the Fraction object can be converted only to a "float".

Now, the candidate selection list is:   + ( long,            const Fraction& ) + ( const Fraction&, long ) + ( const Fraction&, const Fraction& ) + ( int,            float ) Because there is more than one choice, the overload disambiguation takes place.

The first argument is considered:   + ( long, ... )             Requires one standard conversion. + ( const Fraction&, ... ) Requires one user-defined conversion. + ( int, ... )             Is an exact match. Therefore, the set of best candidates for the first argument consists of:   + ( int, float ) Then the second argument is considered:   + ( ..., const Fraction& )   Requires only trivial conversions. + ( ..., long )             Requires 1 user-defined conversion and one standard conversion. + ( ..., float )            Requires one user-defined conversion. Therefore, the set of best candidates for the second argument consists of:   + ( const Fraction&, const Fraction& ) + ( long,           const Fraction& ) The intersection of these two sets is NULL, it contains nothing, and therefore the operation is ambiguous.



RESOLUTION
  Typecast the operand that is causing the ambiguity. For example:      c = 1234L + a;

-or-

     c = (long)1234 + a;                        </li> <li> Remove the float operator from the Fraction class. This prevents a default operator "+" from being provided by the compiler because there is no conversion provided by the user for the second argument. The selection is made from the list of three user-provided "+" operators. For the first argument, the first operator <pre class="fixed_text">     + ( long,          const Fraction& ) is chosen because a trivial conversion is required for int to long. The same selection is also made for the second argument, making the operator <pre class="fixed_text">     + ( long,           const Fraction& ) common to both the selections, and thus resolving the ambiguity. </li></ol>

Sample Code
/* Compile Options needed: none

class Fraction { private: int x;  int y; public: Fraction(int a=0, int b=0) : x(a), y(b) { } ~Fraction{} operator float {return int(x);} };

Fraction& operator+(long i, const Fraction& ) { Fraction f ; return f; } Fraction& operator+(const Fraction&, const Fraction& ){ Fraction f; return f; } Fraction& operator+(const Fraction&, long i ) { Fraction f ; return f;}

void main {  Fraction a(2,3), c;

c =    1234 + a;   // error C2666: '+' : 4 overloads have // similar conversion }

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
If you change the operator float to int, the candidate list will contain "+ ( int, int )", which will still be the best candidate for the left operand. The intersection of the two sets will still be empty.

Additional query words: 8.00 8.00c 9.00 9.10

Keywords: kbprb kbcpponly kbcompiler KB106392

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