The user-defined function called operator++ implements the prefix and postfix ++ operator. If this function is a member function with no parameters, or a non-member function with one parameter of class or enumeration type, it defines the prefix increment operator ++ for objects of that type. If the function is a member function with one parameter (which shall be of type int) or a non-member function with two parameters (the second of which shall be of type int), it defines the postfix increment operator ++ for objects of that type. When the postfix increment is called as a result of using the ++ operator, the int argument will have value zero.136 [ Example:
struct X { X& operator++(); // prefix ++a X operator++(int); // postfix a++ }; struct Y { }; Y& operator++(Y&); // prefix ++b Y operator++(Y&, int); // postfix b++ void f(X a, Y b) { ++a; // a.operator++(); a++; // a.operator++(0); ++b; // operator++(b); b++; // operator++(b, 0); a.operator++(); // explicit call: like ++a; a.operator++(0); // explicit call: like a++; operator++(b); // explicit call: like ++b; operator++(b, 0); // explicit call: like b++; }
— end example ]
The prefix and postfix decrement operators -- are handled analogously.
Calling operator++ explicitly, as in expressions like a.operator++(2), has no special properties: The argument to operator++ is 2.