Non-static member functions

A class can have non-static member functions, which operate on individual instances of the class.

class CL {
  public:
    void member_function() {}
};

These functions are called on an instance of the class, like so:

CL instance;
instance.member_function();

They can be defined either inside or outside the class definition; if defined outside, they are specified as being in the class’ scope.

struct ST {
    void  defined_inside() {}
    void defined_outside();
};
void ST::defined_outside() {}

They can be CV-qualified and/or ref-qualified, affecting how they see the instance they’re called upon; the function will see the instance as having the specified cv-qualifier(s), if any. Which version is called will be based on the instance’s cv-qualifiers. If there is no version with the same cv-qualifiers as the instance, then a more-cv-qualified version will be called if available.

struct CVQualifiers {
    void func()                   {} // 1: Instance is non-cv-qualified.
    void func() const             {} // 2: Instance is const.

    void cv_only() const volatile {}
};

CVQualifiers       non_cv_instance;
const CVQualifiers      c_instance;

non_cv_instance.func(); // Calls #1.
c_instance.func();      // Calls #2.

non_cv_instance.cv_only(); // Calls const volatile version.
c_instance.cv_only();      // Calls const volatile version.

Member function ref-qualifiers indicate whether or not the function is intended to be called on rvalue instances, and use the same syntax as function cv-qualifiers.

struct RefQualifiers {
    void func() &  {} // 1: Called on normal instances.
    void func() && {} // 2: Called on rvalue (temporary) instances.
};

RefQualifiers rf;
rf.func();              // Calls #1.
RefQualifiers{}.func(); // Calls #2.

CV-qualifiers and ref-qualifiers can also be combined if necessary.

struct BothCVAndRef {
    void func() const& {} // Called on normal instances.  Sees instance as const.
    void func() &&     {} // Called on temporary instances.
};

They can also be virtual; this is fundamental to polymorphism, and allows a child class(es) to provide the same interface as the parent class, while supplying their own functionality.

struct Base {
    virtual void func() {}
};
struct Derived {
    virtual void func() {}
};

Base* bp = new Base;
Base* dp = new Derived;
bp.func(); // Calls Base::func().
dp.func(); // Calls Derived::func().

For more information, see non-static member function.

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