C++ std::vector Iterating Over std::vector
Example
You can iterate over a std::vector in several ways. For each of the following sections, v is defined as follows:
std::vector<int> v;
Iterating in the Forward Direction
C++11
// Range based for
for(const auto& value: v) {
std::cout << value << "\n";
}
// Using a for loop with iterator
for(auto it = std::begin(v); it != std::end(v); ++it) {
std::cout << *it << "\n";
}
// Using for_each algorithm, using a function or functor:
void fun(int const& value) {
std::cout << value << "\n";
}
std::for_each(std::begin(v), std::end(v), fun);
// Using for_each algorithm. Using a lambda:
std::for_each(std::begin(v), std::end(v), [](int const& value) {
std::cout << value << "\n";
});
C++11
// Using a for loop with iterator
for(std::vector<int>::iterator it = std::begin(v); it != std::end(v); ++it) {
std::cout << *it << "\n";
}
// Using a for loop with index
for(std::size_t i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i) {
std::cout << v[i] << "\n";
}
Iterating in the Reverse Direction
C++14
// There is no standard way to use range based for for this.
// See below for alternatives.
// Using for_each algorithm
// Note: Using a lambda for clarity. But a function or functor will work
std::for_each(std::rbegin(v), std::rend(v), [](auto const& value) {
std::cout << value << "\n";
});
// Using a for loop with iterator
for(auto rit = std::rbegin(v); rit != std::rend(v); ++rit) {
std::cout << *rit << "\n";
}
// Using a for loop with index
for(std::size_t i = 0; i < v.size(); ++i) {
std::cout << v[v.size() - 1 - i] << "\n";
}
Though there is no built-in way to use the range based for to reverse iterate; it is relatively simple to fix this. The range based for uses begin() and end() to get iterators and thus simulating this with a wrapper object can achieve the results we require.
C++14
template<class C>
struct ReverseRange {
C c; // could be a reference or a copy, if the original was a temporary
ReverseRange(C&& cin): c(std::forward<C>(cin)) {}
ReverseRange(ReverseRange&&)=default;
ReverseRange& operator=(ReverseRange&&)=delete;
auto begin() const {return std::rbegin(c);}
auto end() const {return std::rend(c);}
};
// C is meant to be deduced, and perfect forwarded into
template<class C>
ReverseRange<C> make_ReverseRange(C&& c) {return {std::forward<C>(c)};}
int main() {
std::vector<int> v { 1,2,3,4};
for(auto const& value: make_ReverseRange(v)) {
std::cout << value << "\n";
}
}
Enforcing const elements
Since C++11 the cbegin() and cend() methods allow you to obtain a constant iterator for a vector, even if the vector is non-const. A constant iterator allows you to read but not modify the contents of the vector which is useful to enforce const correctness:
C++11
// forward iteration
for (auto pos = v.cbegin(); pos != v.cend(); ++pos) {
// type of pos is vector<T>::const_iterator
// *pos = 5; // Compile error - can't write via const iterator
}
// reverse iteration
for (auto pos = v.crbegin(); pos != v.crend(); ++pos) {
// type of pos is vector<T>::const_iterator
// *pos = 5; // Compile error - can't write via const iterator
}
// expects Functor::operand()(T&)
for_each(v.begin(), v.end(), Functor());
// expects Functor::operand()(const T&)
for_each(v.cbegin(), v.cend(), Functor())
C++17
as_const extends this to range iteration:
for (auto const& e : std::as_const(v)) {
std::cout << e << '\n';
}
This is easy to implement in earlier versions of C++:
C++14
template <class T>
constexpr std::add_const_t<T>& as_const(T& t) noexcept {
return t;
}
A Note on Efficiency
Since the class std::vector is basically a class that manages a dynamically allocated contiguous array, the same principle explained here applies to C++ vectors. Accessing the vector's content by index is much more efficient when following the row-major order principle. Of course, each access to the vector also puts its management content into the cache as well, but as has been debated many times (notably here and here), the difference in performance for iterating over a std::vector compared to a raw array is negligible. So the same principle of efficiency for raw arrays in C also applies for C++'s std::vector.
