Question

I tried copying a pointer to another by using a method inside the class and the this pointer as follows. I am giving the entire test code so that it is clear what is going on.

class test  {
private:
    int x;
public:
    void setx(int x);
    int getx(void);
    void copy(test *temp);
};

void test::setx(int x)  {
    this->x = x;
}

int test::getx(void)    {
    return this->x;
}

void test::copy(test *temp) {
    this = temp;
}

And I access this method from the main as follows:

int main()  {
    test a;
    a.setx(4);
    cout << a.getx()<<endl;
    test *b = new test;
    b->setx(4);
    cout << b->getx()<<endl;
    test *c;
    c=b;
    cout << c->getx()<<endl;
    test *d;
    d->copy(b);
    cout << d->getx()<<endl;
}

However it gives the following error

In member function ‘void test::copy(test*)’:
error: lvalue required as left operand of assignment

All the other method involving the this pointer works fine except for the copying part. Am i doing some elementary mistake in using the this pointer?

Answer 1

You cannot overwrite this. The this pointer is a constant, so you’re not allowed to change it. And what would that mean anyway? You can’t change the object that you’re in. You can change the values within that object, but not the object itself.

You need to copy other objects by value (by what is stored in the object), not by pointer.

Also, you shouldn’t have a function called copy; that’s what copy constructors and copy assignment operators are for.