Friend Class and Function in C++
Friend Class
A friend class can access private and protected members of other class in which it is declared as friend.
Here is an example of add a class as a friend class. Class B can access the private member “elem” in Class A.
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class A {
private:
int elem;
friend class B;
};
Friend Function
A friend function can be given special grant to access private and protected members. A friend function can be a method of another class, or a global function.
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class A {
private:
int elem;
friend int B::search();
};
In this example, only the search() function in class B can access class A’s internal members.
Friendship is not mutual. If class A is a friend of B, B does not become a friend of A automatically. Friendship is not inherited. The concept of friends is not in Java.