design patterns - C# style enums in C++ -

i'm trying write log library use external tool

i'm looking convenient way add key-strings output stream parsing external tool while having least impact on programmer using library

the goal achieved this:

cout << debug::verbose << "a should equal 3" << endl; cout << debug::warning << "something went wrong" << endl; 

for structured data following

struct debug { static const std::string fatal_error;  static const std::string error; static const std::string warning; static const std::string important; static const std::string information; static const std::string verbose; static const std::string debug; }; 

this works find add level of abstraction std::string type.

in java/c# use enum achieve write behavior, how can implement in c++ elegantly.

i think in c++ iostreams, stream manipulators in style of endl more idiomatic:

#include <iostream>  namespace debug {     std::ostream & info(std::ostream & os) { return os << "info: "; }     std::ostream & warn(std::ostream & os) { return os << "warning: "; }     std::ostream & error(std::ostream & os) { return os << "error: "; } }  int main() {     std::cout << debug::info << "this main()\n"               << debug::error << "everything broken\n"; }