Access Operators in C++

Access operators in C++ allow us to access members of classes and structures (their variables and methods) or elements of collections.

Dot Operator (.)

The dot operator (.) is the most common access operator in C++. It is used to access the members of a class or structure (including properties, methods, and fields).

For example, if we have this class:

class Persona {
public:
    std::string nombre;
    void saludar() {
        std::cout << "Hola, soy " << nombre << std::endl;
    }
};

We can use the dot operator . to access the property nombre or the method saludar().

Persona persona;
persona.nombre = "Carlos";
persona.saludar(); // Prints: Hola, soy Carlos

Index Operator ([])

The index operator ([]) is used to access elements of arrays and collections that implement an index.

Accessing elements of a collection

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int main() {
    std::vector<std::string> nombres = {"Ana", "Luis", "Pedro"};

    std::string nombre = nombres[1];
    std::cout << nombre << std::endl; // Prints: Luis

    return 0;
}

Pointer Member Operator (->)

In C++ the pointer member operator (->) is also used to access the members of an object through a pointer.

class Persona {
public:
    std::string nombre;
    void saludar() {
        std::cout << "Hola, soy " << nombre << std::endl;
    }
};

int main() {
    Persona* persona = new Persona();
    persona->nombre = "Carlos";
    persona->saludar(); // Prints: Hola, soy Carlos

    delete persona;
    return 0;
}