std::equal_range

 

C++

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Regular expressions library (C++11)

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Technical Specifications

 

Algorithm library

Functions
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) for_each countcount_if mismatch equal	findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n
Modifying sequence operations
copycopy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) fill fill_n transform generate generate_n removeremove_if remove_copyremove_copy_if	replacereplace_if replace_copyreplace_copy_if swap swap_ranges iter_swap reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffleshuffle (until C++17)(C++11) unique unique_copy
Partitioning operations
is_partitioned (C++11) partition partition_copy (C++11)	stable_partition partition_point (C++11)
Sorting operations (on sorted ranges)
is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) sort	partial_sort partial_sort_copy stable_sort nth_element
Binary search operations (on sorted ranges)
lower_bound upper_bound	binary_search equal_range
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
merge inplace_merge includes	set_difference set_intersection set_symmetric_difference set_union
Heap operations
is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11) make_heap	push_heap pop_heap sort_heap
Minimum/maximum operations
max max_element min min_element minmax (C++11) minmax_element (C++11)	lexicographical_compare is_permutation (C++11) next_permutation prev_permutation
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) accumulate inner_product	adjacent_difference partial_sum
C library
qsort	bsearch

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class ForwardIt, class T > std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt>     equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,                  const T& value );	(1)
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare > std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt>     equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,                  const T& value, Compare comp );	(2)

Returns a range containing all elements equivalent to value in the range [first, last).

The range [first, last) must be partitioned with respect to comparison with value, i.e. it must satisfy all of the following requirements:

• partitioned with respect to element < value or comp(element, value)
• partitioned with respect to !(value < element) or !comp(value, element)
• for all elements, if element < value or comp(element, value) is true then !(value < element) or !comp(value, element) is also true

A fully-sorted range meets these criteria, as does a range resulting from a call to std::partition.

The returned range is defined by two iterators, one pointing to the first element that is not less than value and another pointing to the first element greater than value. The first iterator may be alternatively obtained with std::lower_bound(), the second - with std::upper_bound().

The first version uses operator< to compare the elements, the second version uses the given comparison function comp.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to examine
value	-	value to compare the elements to
comp	-	comparison function which returns ​true if the first argument is less than the second. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it. cmp will be called as both cmp(value, *iterator) and cmp(*iterator, value).
Type requirements
- ForwardIt must meet the requirements of ForwardIterator.

Return value

std::pair containing a pair of iterators defining the wanted range, the first pointing to the first element that is not less than value and the second pointing to the first element greater than value.

If there are no elements not less than value, last is returned as the first element. Similarly if there are no elements greater than value, last is returned as the second element

Complexity

The number of comparisons performed is logarithmic in the distance between first and last (At most 2 * log
2(last - first) + O(1) comparisons). However, for non-RandomAccessIterators, the number of iterator increments is linear.

Possible implementation

First version
template<class ForwardIt, class T> std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value) { return std::make_pair(std::lower_bound(first, last, value), std::upper_bound(first, last, value)); }
Second version
template<class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare> std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value, Compare comp); { return std::make_pair(std::lower_bound(first, last, value, comp), std::upper_bound(first, last, value, comp)); }

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
 
struct S
{
    int number;
    char name;
 
    S ( int number, char name  )
        : number ( number ), name ( name )
    {}
 
    // only the number is relevant with this comparison
    bool operator< ( const S& s ) const
    {
        return number < s.number;
    }
};
 
 
int main()
{
    // note: not ordered, only partitioned w.r.t. S defined below
    std::vector<S> vec = { {1,'A'}, {2,'B'}, {2,'C'}, {2,'D'}, {4,'G'}, {3,'F'} };
 
    S value ( 2, '?' );
 
    auto p = std::equal_range(vec.begin(),vec.end(),value);
 
    for ( auto i = p.first; i != p.second; ++i )
        std::cout << i->name << ' ';
}

Output:

B C D

Example With Comparator

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
 
struct S
{
    int number;
    char name;
 
    S ( int number, char name  )
        : number ( number ), name ( name )
    {}
 
    // only the number is relevant with this comparison
    bool operator< ( const S& s ) const
    {
        return number < s.number;
    }
};
 
struct Comp
{
    bool operator() ( const S& s, int i )
    {
        return s.number < i;
    }
 
    bool operator() ( int i, const S& s )
    {
        return i < s.number;
    }
};
 
int main()
{
    // note: not ordered, only partitioned w.r.t. S defined below
    std::vector<S> vec = { {1,'A'}, {2,'B'}, {2,'C'}, {2,'D'}, {4,'G'}, {3,'F'} };
 
    auto p = std::equal_range(vec.begin(),vec.end(),2,Comp());
 
    for ( auto i = p.first; i != p.second; ++i )
        std::cout << i->name << ' ';
}

Output:

B C D

See also

lower_bound	returns an iterator to the first element not less than the given value (function template)
upper_bound	returns an iterator to the first element greater than a certain value (function template)
binary_search	determines if an element exists in a certain range (function template)
partition	divides a range of elements into two groups (function template)