What's the use of the private copy constructor in c++

Question

Why do people define a private copy constructor?

When is making the copy constructor and the assignment operator private a good design?

If there are no members in the class which are pointers or handles to a unique object (like file name), then wat other cases are there where private copy constructor is a good idea?

Same question apply for assignment operator. Given that majority of C++ revolves around copying of objects and passing by reference, are there any good designs which involve private copy constructor?

Answer 1

One use case is the singleton pattern where there can only be exactly one instance of a class. In this case, you need make your constructors and assignment operator= private so that there is no way of creating more than one object. The only way to create an object is via your GetInstance() function as shown below.

// An example of singleton pattern
class CMySingleton
{
public:
  static CMySingleton& GetInstance()
  {
    static CMySingleton singleton;
    return singleton;
  }

// Other non-static member functions
private:
  CMySingleton() {}                                  // Private constructor
  ~CMySingleton() {}
  CMySingleton(const CMySingleton&);                 // Prevent copy-construction
  CMySingleton& operator=(const CMySingleton&);      // Prevent assignment
};

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  // create a single instance of the class
  CMySingleton &object = CMySingleton::GetInstance();

  // compile fail due to private constructor
  CMySingleton object1;
  // compile fail due to private copy constructor
  CMySingleton object2(object);
  // compile fail due to private assignment operator
  object1 = object;

  // ..
  return 0;
}