How to call a parent class function from derived class function?

Question

How do I call the parent function from a derived class using C++? For example, I have a class called parent, and a class called child which is derived from parent. Within each class there is a print function. In the definition of the child's print function I would like to make a call to the parents print function. How would I go about doing this?

Answer 1

I'll take the risk of stating the obvious: You call the function, if it's defined in the base class it's automatically available in the derived class (unless it's private).

If there is a function with the same signature in the derived class you can disambiguate it by adding the base class's name followed by two colons base_class::foo(...). You should note that unlike Java and C#, C++ does not have a keyword for "the base class" (super or base) since C++ supports multiple inheritance which may lead to ambiguity.

class left {
public:
    void foo();
};

class right {
public:
    void foo();
};

class bottom : public left, public right {
public:
    void foo()
    {
        //base::foo();// ambiguous
        left::foo();
        right::foo();

        // and when foo() is not called for 'this':
        bottom b;
        b.left::foo();  // calls b.foo() from 'left'
        b.right::foo();  // call b.foo() from 'right'
    }
};

Incidentally, you can't derive directly from the same class twice since there will be no way to refer to one of the base classes over the other.

class bottom : public left, public left { // Illegal
};

Answer 2

Given a parent class named Parent and a child class named Child, you can do something like this:

class Parent {
public:
    virtual void print(int x);
};

class Child : public Parent {
    void print(int x) override;
};

void Parent::print(int x) {
    // some default behavior
}

void Child::print(int x) {
    // use Parent's print method; implicitly passes 'this' to Parent::print
    Parent::print(x);
}

Note that Parent is the class's actual name and not a keyword.

Answer 3

If your base class is called Base, and your function is called FooBar() you can call it directly using Base::FooBar()

void Base::FooBar()
{
   printf("in Base\n");
}

void ChildOfBase::FooBar()
{
  Base::FooBar();
}

Answer 4

In MSVC there is a Microsoft specific keyword for that: __super

---

MSDN: Allows you to explicitly state that you are calling a base-class implementation for a function that you are overriding.

// deriv_super.cpp
// compile with: /c
struct B1 {
   void mf(int) {}
};

struct B2 {
   void mf(short) {}

   void mf(char) {}
};

struct D : B1, B2 {
   void mf(short) {
      __super::mf(1);   // Calls B1::mf(int)
      __super::mf('s');   // Calls B2::mf(char)
   }
};

---

Answer 5

Call the parent method with the parent scope resolution operator.

Parent::method()

class Primate {
public:
    void whatAmI(){
        cout << "I am of Primate order";
    }
};

class Human : public Primate{
public:
    void whatAmI(){
        cout << "I am of Human species";
    }
    void whatIsMyOrder(){
        Primate::whatAmI(); // <-- SCOPE RESOLUTION OPERATOR
    }
};

Answer 6

If access modifier of base class member function is protected OR public, you can do call member function of base class from derived class. Call to the base class non-virtual and virtual member function from derived member function can be made. Please refer the program.

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;

class Parent
{
  protected:
    virtual void fun(int i)
    {
      cout<<"Parent::fun functionality write here"<<endl;
    }
    void fun1(int i)
    {
      cout<<"Parent::fun1 functionality write here"<<endl;
    }
    void fun2()
    {

      cout<<"Parent::fun3 functionality write here"<<endl;
    }

};

class Child:public Parent
{
  public:
    virtual void fun(int i)
    {
      cout<<"Child::fun partial functionality write here"<<endl;
      Parent::fun(++i);
      Parent::fun2();
    }
    void fun1(int i)
    {
      cout<<"Child::fun1 partial functionality write here"<<endl;
      Parent::fun1(++i);
    }

};
int main()
{
   Child d1;
   d1.fun(1);
   d1.fun1(2);
   return 0;
}

Output:

$ g++ base_function_call_from_derived.cpp
$ ./a.out 
Child::fun partial functionality write here
Parent::fun functionality write here
Parent::fun3 functionality write here
Child::fun1 partial functionality write here
Parent::fun1 functionality write here

Answer 7

struct a{
 int x;

 struct son{
  a* _parent;
  void test(){
   _parent->x=1; //success
  }
 }_son;

 }_a;

int main(){
 _a._son._parent=&_a;
 _a._son.test();
}

Reference example.