Defining member function outside of the class in C++

A member function can be defined outside of the class too; here we will learn how to define a class member function inside and outside of the class?

Defining member function inside of the class definition (member function definition with declaration)

Consider the following syntax

class class_name
{
	private:
		declarations;
	public:
		function_declaration(parameters)
		{
			function_body;
		}
};

Here is the example

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Example
{
	private:
		int val;
	public:
		//function to assign value
		void init_val(int v)
		{
			val=v;
		}
		//function to print value
		void print_val()
		{
			cout<<"val: "<<val<<endl;
		}
};

int main()
{
	//create object
	Example Ex;
	Ex.init_val(100);
	Ex.print_val();
	
	return 0;
}

Output

val: 100

In the above example, public member functions init_val() and print_val() are defined inside the class definition.

Defining member function outside of the class definition

A public member function can also be defined outside of the class with a special type of operator known as Scope Resolution Operator (SRO); SRO represents by :: (double colon)

Let’s consider the syntax

return_type class_name::function_name(parameters)
{
	function_body;
}

Here is the example

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

class Example
{
	private:
		int val;
	public:
		//function declarations
		void init_val(int v);
		void print_val();
};
//function definitions
void Example::init_val(int v)
{
	val=v;
}

void Example::print_val()
{
	cout<<"val: "<<val<<endl;
}
int main()
{
	//create object
	Example Ex;
	Ex.init_val(100);
	Ex.print_val();
	
	return 0;
}

Output

val: 100