std::equal_range

 

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Algorithm library

Functions
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_of any_of none_of (C++11) (C++11) (C++11) for_each count count_if mismatch equal	find find_if find_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n
Modifying sequence operations
copy copy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) fill fill_n transform generate generate_n remove remove_if remove_copy remove_copy_if	replace replace_if replace_copy replace_copy_if swap swap_ranges iter_swap reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffle shuffle   (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 is_heap_until (C++11) make_heap	push_heap pop_heap sort_heap
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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 ForwardIterator, class T > std::pair<ForwardIterator,ForwardIterator>     equal_range( ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last,                  const T& value );	(1)
template< class ForwardIterator, class T, class Compare > std::pair<ForwardIterator,ForwardIterator>     equal_range( ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last,                  const T& value, Compare comp );	(2)

Returns a range containing all elements equal to value in the sorted range [first, last). The 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 lower_bound(), the second - with 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. The type  Type1 must be such that an object of type T can be implicitly converted to  Type1. The type  Type2 must be such that an object of type ForwardIterator can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to  Type2. ​

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

logarithmic in the distance between first and last

Possible implementation

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

#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()
{
    std::vector<S> vec = { {1,'A'}, {2,'B'}, {2,'C'}, {2,'D'}, {3,'F'}, {4,'G'} };
 
    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

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)