C# Language Specification

Unary operator overload resolution

An operation of the form op x or x op, where op is an overloadable unary operator, and x is an expression of type X, is processed as follows:

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  The set of candidate user-defined operators provided by X for the operation operator op(x) is determined using the rules of §7.3.5.
  
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  If the set of candidate user-defined operators is not empty, then this becomes the set of candidate operators for the operation. Otherwise, the predefined unary operator op implementations, including their lifted forms, become the set of candidate operators for the operation. The predefined implementations of a given operator are specified in the description of the operator (§7.6 and §7.7).
  
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  The overload resolution rules of §7.5.3 are applied to the set of candidate operators to select the best operator with respect to the argument list (x), and this operator becomes the result of the overload resolution process. If overload resolution fails to select a single best operator, a binding-time error occurs.
  

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