Can I call a constructor from another constructor

Question

As a C# developer I'm used to run through constructors:

class Test {
    public Test() {
        DoSomething();
    }

    public Test(int count) : this() {
        DoSomethingWithCount(count);
    }

    public Test(int count, string name) : this(count) {
        DoSomethingWithName(name);
    }
}

Is there a way to do this in C++?

I tried calling the Class name and using the 'this' keyword, but both fails.

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly, you're asking if you can call multiple constructors in C++?

If that's what you're looking for, then no - that is not possible.

You certainly can have multiple constructors, each with unique argument signatures, and then call the one you want when you instantiate a new object.

You can even have one constructor with defaulted arguments on the end.

But you may not have multiple constructors, and then call each of them separately.

Answer 2

Simply put, you cannot before C++11.

C++11 introduces delegating constructors:

Delegating constructor

If the name of the class itself appears as class-or-identifier in the member initializer list, then the list must consist of that one member initializer only; such constructor is known as the delegating constructor, and the constructor selected by the only member of the initializer list is the target constructor

In this case, the target constructor is selected by overload resolution and executed first, then the control returns to the delegating constructor and its body is executed.

Delegating constructors cannot be recursive.

class Foo {
public: 
  Foo(char x, int y) {}
  Foo(int y) : Foo('a', y) {} // Foo(int) delegates to Foo(char,int)
};

Note that a delegating constructor is an all-or-nothing proposal; if a constructor delegates to another constructor, the calling constructor isn't allowed to have any other members in its initialization list. This makes sense if you think about initializing const/reference members once, and only once.

Answer 3

In Visual C++ you can also use this notation inside constructor: this->Classname::Classname(parameters of another constructor). See an example below:

class Vertex
{
 private:
  int x, y;
 public:
  Vertex(int xCoo, int yCoo): x(xCoo), y(yCoo) {}
  Vertex()
  {
   this->Vertex::Vertex(-1, -1);
  }
};

I don't know whether it works somewhere else, I only tested it in Visual C++ 2003 and 2008. You may also call several constructors this way, I suppose, just like in Java and C#.

P.S.: Frankly, I was surprised that this was not mentioned earlier.