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Compiler Error C3071

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operator 'operator' can only be applied to an instance of a ref class or a value-type

A CLR operator cannot be used on a native type. The operator can be used on a ref class or a ref struct (a value type) but not a native type such as int or an alias for a native type such as System::Int32. These types can't be boxed from C++ code in a way that refers to the native variable, so the operator cannot be used.

For more information, see Tracking Reference Operator.

Example

The following sample generates C3071.

// C3071.cpp
// compile with: /clr
class N {};
ref struct R {};

int main() {
   N n;
   %n;   // C3071

   R r;
   R ^ r2 = %r;   // OK
}