Question

Consider the following code snippet:

bool SomeObject::equal(const SomeObject& rhs) const
{
  if (this == &rhs)
  {
    return true;
  }

  // check the state
}

The problem with this code is that SomeObject might override operator& (or someone might add it in the future), which in turn may break this implementation.

Is it possible to test whether rhs and *this are the same object without being at the mercy of operator& implementation?

Answer 1

If you want to get the actual address of the object and ignore overloaded & operators then use std::addressof

bool SomeObject::equal(const SomeObject& rhs) const
{
  if (this == std::addressof(rhs))
  {
    return true;
  }

  // check the state
}

Reference: http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/memory/addressof