Creating a composite type from two enum classes, ready for STL map

Question

I would like to create a composite type out of two enum classes.

enum class Color {RED, GREEN, BLUE};
enum class Shape {SQUARE, CIRCLE, TRIANGLE};

         


        

Answer 1

As commented and as already stated by others, give precedence to either Shape or Color in the operator< and only compare the other if the first is equal. An alternative implementation for operator< using std::tie:

#include 
friend bool operator<(const Object& lhs, const Object& rhs)
{
    return std::tie(lhs.color, lhs.shape) < std::tie(rhs.color, rhs.shape);
}