C++ named requirements: LegacyIterator
The LegacyIterator requirements describe types that can be used to identify and traverse the elements of a container.
LegacyIterator is the base set of requirements used by other iterator types: LegacyInputIterator, LegacyOutputIterator, LegacyForwardIterator, LegacyBidirectionalIterator, and LegacyRandomAccessIterator. Iterators can be thought of as an abstraction of pointers.
All the categories of iterators require only those functions that are realizable for a given category in constant time (amortized). Therefore, requirement tables and concept definitions (since C++20)for the iterators do not specify complexity.
Contents |
Requirements
The type It satisfies LegacyIterator if
- The type It satisfies CopyConstructible, and
- The type It satisfies CopyAssignable, and
- The type It satisfies Destructible, and
- The type It satisfies Swappable, and
- std::iterator_traits<It> has member typedefs
value_type
(until C++20),difference_type
,reference
,pointer
, anditerator_category
, and - Given r, an lvalue of type It, the following expressions must be valid and have their specified effects:
Expression | Return Type | Precondition |
---|---|---|
*r | unspecified | r is dereferenceable |
++r | It& | r is incrementable (the behavior of the expression ++r is defined) |
ConceptFor the definition of std::iterator_traits, the following exposition-only concept is defined.
where the exposition-only concept __Referenceable<T> is satisfied if and only if T& is a valid type (in particular, T must not be void). |
(since C++20) |
Defect reports
The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.
DR | Applied to | Behavior as published | Correct behavior |
---|---|---|---|
LWG 2437 | C++98 | *r is required to be reference
|
not required for output iterators |
LWG 3420 | C++20 | the exposition-only concept checks copyable first
|
copyable is checked only if the requires-expression yields true
|
See also
(C++20) |
specifies that objects of a type can be incremented and dereferenced (concept) |
Iterator library | provides definitions for iterators, iterator traits, adaptors, and utility functions |