Name for an operator

[Paul]

This code (below) is copied from another website. I'd like to know the name of the technique of creating operators by the mechanism: A::operator B() so that I can research this independently. What is the name of this methodology for creating the member function of struct A?

Thank you,

Paul

#include <iostream>
struct B;
struct A {
operator B();
};

struct B {
B() { }
B(A const&) { std::cout << "<direct> "; }
};

A::operator B() { std::cout << "<copy> "; return B(); }

int main() {
A a;
B b1(a); // 1)
B b2 = a; // 2)
}

[Richard]

[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]

Paul <peps...@gmail.com> spake the secret code
<242662a2-9a42-4458...@googlegroups.com> thusly:

>#include <iostream>
>struct B;
>struct A {
> operator B();
>};

struct A is defining a conversion operator so that it can be converted
into a struct B. This enables the following:

A a;
B b1 = a; // implicit conversion
B b2 = static_cast<B>(a); // explicit conversion

If you change to:

struct B;
struct A {
explicit operator B();
};

A a;
B b1 = a; // error: implicit conversion not allowed
B b2 = static_cast<B>(a); // OK: explicit conversion
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