Printing out a list that is private member in class

[wajahatshoukat]

Hey! How can I print out a list using overloaded operator<< when my list is a private member of my Lexicon class?

 class Lexicon
{
    private:
        list<string> myLexicon;
        int numElements;

ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, const Lexicon& obj){
    list<string>::iterator it;    	
    for(it = obj.myLexicon.begin(); it != obj.myLexicon.end(); it++){
	os << (*it) << endl;	
    }
	return os;
}

everytime I compile it it gives me the error that my = is not overloaded or that .begin is not a function of my class. How would I be able to access the list to print it out?

[keskiverto]

What does the public interface of Lexicon have?

[icy1]

create a public "getter" method inside Lexicon, which could, for example, return a const reference to the private myLexicon object.

[Marcus Aseth]

you can make that overload friend of the class and move your code inside the class. This way you don't need to expose your private data to everyone trough a getter

class Lexicon
{
	list<string> myLexicon;
	int numElements;

	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, const Lexicon& obj) {
		list<string>::iterator it;
		for (it = obj.myLexicon.begin(); it != obj.myLexicon.end(); it++) {
			os << (*it) << endl;
		}
		return os;
	}
};

or friend declaration inside, definition outside

class Lexicon
{
	list<string> myLexicon;
	int numElements;

	friend ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, const Lexicon& obj);
};

ostream& operator<<(ostream &os, const Lexicon& obj) {
		list<string>::iterator it;
		for (it = obj.myLexicon.begin(); it != obj.myLexicon.end(); it++) {
			os << (*it) << endl;
		}
		return os;
	}