Member Functions of C++ Classes

In C++, Member Functions can be defined in two places:

  • Outside the class definition
  • Inside the class definition
  • Outside the class definition:

    Member functions that are declared inside a class have to be defined separately outside the class. It’s like a normal function. It should have a function header and a function body.

    The main difference between a member function and a normal function is that a member function incorporates a membership ‘identity lebel’ in the header. ‘lebel’ tells the compiler which class the function belongs to. It has the following Syntax:

    return-type class-name::function-name(argument declaration)
    {
     Function body
    }
    

    Inside the class definition:

    Defining a member function is to replace the function declaration by the actual function definition inside the class.
    Example:

    class item 
    {
     int number;
     float cost;
     public:
    void getdata(int a, float b)   // declaration Inline function
    void putdata(void)   // definition inside the class          
    {
     cout<<number<<"\n";
     cout<<cost<<"\n";
    }
    };