Is it possible to have a generic generic <<ostreamoperator that will work for any class that owns a method to_string()? For example, the following code:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
struct A {
int a;
std::string to_str() const { return std::to_string(a); }
};
struct B {
std::string b;
std::string to_str() const { return b; }
};
template<class Stringifiable>
std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& os, const Stringifiable& s) {
os << s.to_str();
return os;
}
int main() {
A a{3};
B b{"hello"};
std::cout << a << b << std::endl;
}
not compiled. The indicated errors are of the type:
prog.cpp: In instantiation of 'std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream&, const Stringifiable&) [with Stringifiable = A; std::ostream = std::basic_ostream<char>]':
prog.cpp:23:15: required from here
prog.cpp:16:5: error: ambiguous overload for 'operator<<' (operand types are 'std::ostream {aka std::basic_ostream<char>}' and 'std::string {aka std::basic_string<char>}')
os << s.to_str();
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