Unlike a lot of modern languages plain C++ arrays don't have a .size() function. You have a number of options to iterate through a list depending on the storage type.
Some common options for storage include:
// used for fixed size storage. Requires #include <array>
std::array<type, size> collection;
// used for dynamic sized storage. Requires #include <vector>
std::vector<type> collection;
// Dynamic storage. In general: slower iteration, faster insert
// Requires #include <list>
std::list<type> collection;
// Old style C arrays
int myarray[size];
Your options for iteration will depend on the type you're using. If you're using a plain old C array you can either store the size somewhere else or calculate the size of the array based on the size of it's types. Calculating the size of an array has a number of drawbacks outlined in this answer by DevSolar
// Store the value as a constant
int oldschool[10];
for(int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
oldschool[i]; // Get
oldschool[i] = 5; // Set
}
// Calculate the size of the array
int size = sizeof(oldschool)/sizeof(int);
for(int i = 0; i < size; ++i) {
oldschool[i]; // Get
oldschool[i] = 5; // Set
}
If you're using any type that provides a .begin() and .end() function you can use those to get an iterator which is considered good style in C++ compared to index based iteration:
// Could also be an array, list, or anything with begin()/end()
std::vector<int> newschool;
// Regular iterator, non-C++11
for(std::vector<int>::iterator num = newschool.begin(); num != newschool.end(); ++num) {
int current = *num; // * gets the number out of the iterator
*num = 5; // Sets the number.
}
// Better syntax, use auto! automatically gets the right iterator type (C++11)
for(auto num = newschool.begin(); num != newschool.end(); ++num) {
int current = *num; // As above
*num = 5;
}
// std::for_each also available
std::for_each(newschool.begin(), newschool.end(), function_taking_int);
// std::for_each with lambdas (C++11)
std::for_each(newschool.begin(), newschool.end(), [](int i) {
// Just use i, can't modify though.
});
Vectors are also special because they are designed to be drop-in replacements for arrays. You can iterate over a vector exactly how you would over an array with a .size() function. However this is considered bad practice in C++ and you should prefer to use iterators where possible:
std::vector<int> badpractice;
for(int i = 0; i < badpractice.size(); ++i) {
badpractice[i]; // Get
badpractice[i] = 5; // Set
}
C++11 (the new standard) also brings the new and fancy range based for that should work on any type that provides a .begin() and .end(). However: Compiler support can vary for this feature. You can also use begin(type) and end(type) as an alternative.
std::array<int, 10> fancy;
for(int i : fancy) {
// Just use i, can't modify though.
}
// begin/end requires #include <iterator> also included in most container headers.
for(auto num = std::begin(fancy); num != std::end(fancy); ++num) {
int current = *num; // Get
*num = 131; // Set
}
std::begin also has another interesting property: it works on raw arrays. This means you can use the same iteration semantics between arrays and non-arrays (you should still prefer standard types over raw arrays):
int raw[10];
for(auto num = std::begin(raw); num != std::end(raw); ++num) {
int current = *num; // Get
*num = 131; // Set
}
You also need to be careful if you want to delete items from a collection while in a loop because calling container.erase() makes all existing iterators invalid:
std::vector<int> numbers;
for(auto num = numbers.begin(); num != numbers.end(); /* Intentionally empty */) {
...
if(someDeleteCondition) {
num = numbers.erase(num);
} else {
// No deletition, no problem
++num;
}
}
This list is far from comprehensive but as you can see there's a lot of ways of iterating over a collection. In general prefer iterators unless you have a good reason to do otherwise.
