C# allows user-defined types to overload operators by defining static member functions using the operator keyword.
The following example illustrates an implementation of the \+ operator.
If we have a Complex class which represents a complex number:
public struct Complex
{
public double Real { get; set; }
public double Imaginary { get; set; }
}And we want to add the option to use the \+ operator for this class. i.e.:
Complex a = new Complex() { Real = 1, Imaginary = 2 };
Complex b = new Complex() { Real = 4, Imaginary = 8 };
Complex c = a + b;We will need to overload the \+ operator for the class. This is done using a static function and the operator keyword:
public static Complex operator +(Complex c1, Complex c2)
{
return new Complex
{
Real = c1.Real + c2.Real,
Imaginary = c1.Imaginary + c2.Imaginary
};
}Operators such as \+, \-, \*, / can all be overloaded. This also includes Operators that don’t return the same type (for example, == and != can be overloaded, despite returning booleans) The rule below relating to pairs is also enforced here.
Comparison operators have to be overloaded in pairs (e.g. if \< is overloaded, \> also needs to be overloaded).
A full list of overloadable operators (as well as non-overloadable operators and the restrictions placed on some overloadable operators) can be seen at MSDN - Overloadable Operators (C# Programming Guide).
overloading of operator is was introduced with the pattern matching mechanism of C# 7.0. For details see Pattern Matching
Given a type Cartesian defined as follows
public class Cartesian
{
public int X { get; }
public int Y { get; }
}An overloadable operator is could e.g. be defined for Polar coordinates
public static class Polar
{
public static bool operator is(Cartesian c, out double R, out double Theta)
{
R = Math.Sqrt(c.X*c.X + c.Y*c.Y);
Theta = Math.Atan2(c.Y, c.X);
return c.X != 0 || c.Y != 0;
}
}which can be used like this
var c = Cartesian(3, 4);
if (c is Polar(var R, *))
{
Console.WriteLine(R);
}This example is taken from the Roslyn Pattern Matching Documentation.