Access Specifiers in C++

Access Specifiers in C++

 

Access specifier used to implement an important aspect of OOPs known as data hiding .

Access specifier or Access modifier in a class are used to assign the accessibility to the class member i.e. , they set some restrictions on the class members so that they can not be directly accessed by the outside functions .

 

Types Of Access Specifiers

There are three types of access specifiers :-

1. Public
2. Private
3. Protected

Public Access Specifier :-

All the class members declared under the public specifier will be available to everyone .                         The data members and member functions declared as public can be accessed by other classes and function too .

 

Private Access Specifier :-

The class members declared as private can be accessed only by the member functions inside the class . They are not allowed to be accessed directly by any object or function outside the class , only the member functions are allowed to access the private data member of the class .

 

Protected Access Specifier :-

The protected access specifier is similar to the private access specifier in the sense that it can not be accessed outside of its class . The difference is that the class member declared as protected can  be accessed by any subclass of that class as well .