How can a derived C++ class clone itself via a base pointer?

Question

Here\'s what I\'m trying to do (this code doesn\'t work):

class Base
{
    virtual Base *clone() { return new Base(this); }
    virtual void ID() { printf(\"         


        

Answer 1

Once all the compile errors are fixed, I ended up with this:

#include 

class Base
{
  public:
    Base() {}
    Base(const Base&) {}
    virtual Base *clone() { return new Base(*this); }
    virtual void ID() { printf("BASE"); }
};

class Derived : public Base
{
  public:
    Derived() {}
    Derived(const Derived&) {}
    virtual Base *clone() { return new Derived(*this); }
    virtual void ID() { printf("DERIVED"); }
};


int main()
{
  Derived d;
  Base *bp = &d;
  Base *bp2 = bp->clone();

  bp2->ID();
}

Which gives you what you are looking for -- DERIVED.