title: Is there a way to call a base function outside of the class in C++?
body: <p>This question is similar, but is about calling the function from inside the class: <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/672373/can-i-call-a-base-classs-virtual-function-if-im-overriding-it">Can I call a base class&#39;s virtual function if I&#39;m overriding it?</a></p>
  
  <p>In that case, you'd specify <code>Base::function()</code> instead of <code>function()</code>, which will call the overridden definition. </p>
  
  <p>But is there a way to do this outside of the class? My class doesn't define a copy constructor, so I couldn't figure out how to cast as the base class:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Base( derived_object ).function()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Is the appropriate thing to do here to cast <code>&amp; derived_object</code> as <code>Base*</code> and then call <code>-&gt;function()</code>?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for your insight.</p>