[prog] C++, global function with optional arguments

Robert J. Hansen rjh at sixdemonbag.org
Sat Apr 19 08:43:46 EST 2003


> I have written a golbal function with the following declaration
> void trim (char str[], int left = 1, int right = 1);

I think you'll find an interesting bug here, but I'm not going to tell
you about it in advance--you'll learn more this way.  :)

> It removes leading and trailing whitespace, if left and right, resectively, 
> are true.

The function declaration should read, if you want to be C++ish about it,

void trim(char *str, bool left = true, bool right = true);

You can use integers and int literals as boolean values, but using the
dedicated bool type is thought of as more "correct style".

> When I have the function present without a separate declaration it works Ok, 
> but when I remebered that I needed the function deaclaration as well as the 
> function itself I got the following errors.

One of C++'s lesser-publicized quirks: when listing default arguments,
they can be in either the declaration or the definition, but not both. 
For instance:

// my_header.h
int func_with_default_args(int x = 100);

// my_header.cc
int func_with_default_arts(int x) { ... }

-- 
Robert J. Hansen <rjh at sixdemonbag.org>



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