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std::span

From cppreference.com
 
C++
 
Containers library
 
std::span
 
Defined in header <span>
template<

    class T,
    std::size_t Extent = std::dynamic_extent

> class span;
 (since C++20)

The class template span describes an object that can refer to a contiguous sequence of objects with the first element of the sequence at position zero. A span can either have a static extent, in which case the number of elements in the sequence is known and encoded in the type, or a dynamic extent.

If a span has dynamic extent a typical implementation holds two members: a pointer to T and a size. A span with static extent may have only one member: a pointer to T.

Contents

Template parameters

T - element type; must be a complete type that is not an abstract class type
Extent - the number of elements in the sequence, or std::dynamic_extent if dynamic

Member types

Member type Definition
element_type T
value_type std::remove_cv_t<T>
size_type std::size_t
difference_type std::ptrdiff_t
pointer T*
const_pointer const T*
reference T&
const_reference const T&
iterator implementation-defined LegacyRandomAccessIterator, ConstexprIterator, and LegacyContiguousIterator whose value_type is value_type
reverse_iterator std::reverse_iterator<iterator>

Note: iterator is a mutable iterator if T is not const-qualified.

All requirements on the iterator types of a Container apply to the iterator type of span as well.

Member constant

static constexpr std::size_t extent = Extent;

Member functions

orphaned, replaced with Template:cpp/container/dsc operator_at. orphaned, replaced with Template:cpp/container/dsc data.
constructs a span
(public member function) [edit]
assigns a span
(public member function) [edit]
Iterators
(C++23)
 returns an iterator to the beginning
(public member function) [edit]
(C++23)
 returns an iterator to the end
(public member function) [edit]
(C++23)
 returns a reverse iterator to the beginning
(public member function) [edit]
(C++23)
 returns a reverse iterator to the end
(public member function) [edit]
Element access
access the first element
(public member function) [edit]
access the last element
(public member function) [edit]
Observers
(C++20)
 returns the number of elements in the sequence
(public member function) [edit]
returns the size of the sequence in bytes
(public member function) [edit]
checks if the sequence is empty
(public member function) [edit]
Subviews
obtains a subspan consisting of the first N elements of the sequence
(public member function) [edit]
obtains a subspan consisting of the last N elements of the sequence
(public member function) [edit]
obtains a subspan
(public member function) [edit]

Non-member functions

(C++20)
 converts a span into a view of its underlying bytes
(function template) [edit]

Non-member constant

(C++20)
 a constant of type std::size_t signifying that the span has dynamic extent
(constant) [edit]

Helper templates

template<class T, std::size_t Extent>
inline constexpr bool ranges::enable_borrowed_range<std::span<T, Extent>> = true;

This specialization of std::ranges::enable_borrowed_range makes span satisfy borrowed_range.

template<class T, std::size_t Extent>

inline constexpr bool ranges::enable_view<std::span<T, Extent>> =

    Extent == 0 || Extent == dynamic_extent;

This specialization of std::ranges::enable_view makes span of zero or dynamic extent satisfy view. Spans of nonzero static extent are not default_initializable and therefore not views.

Deduction guides

Example

The example uses std::span to implement some algorithms on contiguous ranges.

Run this code
#include <algorithm>
#include <cstddef>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
 
template<class T, std::size_t N> [[nodiscard]]
constexpr auto slide(std::span<T,N> s, std::size_t offset, std::size_t width) {
    return s.subspan(offset, offset + width <= s.size() ? width : 0U);
}
 
template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> [[nodiscard]]
constexpr bool starts_with(std::span<T,N> data, std::span<T,M> prefix) {
    return data.size() >= prefix.size() 
        && std::equal(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), data.begin());
}
 
template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> [[nodiscard]]
constexpr bool ends_with(std::span<T,N> data, std::span<T,M> suffix) {
    return data.size() >= suffix.size() 
        && std::equal(data.end() - suffix.size(), data.end(), 
                      suffix.end() - suffix.size());
}
 
template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> [[nodiscard]]
constexpr bool contains(std::span<T,N> span, std::span<T,M> sub) {
    return std::search(span.begin(), span.end(), sub.begin(), sub.end())
        != span.end();
}
 
void print(const auto& seq) {
    for (const auto& elem : seq) std::cout << elem << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}
 
int main()
{
    constexpr int a[] { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 };
    constexpr int b[] { 8, 7, 6 };
 
    for (std::size_t offset{}; ; ++offset) {
        constexpr std::size_t width{6};
        auto s = slide(std::span{a}, offset, width);
        if (s.empty())
            break;
        print(s);
    }
 
    static_assert(starts_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a,4})
        && starts_with(std::span{a+1, 4}, std::span{a+1,3})
        && !starts_with(std::span{a}, std::span{b})
        && !starts_with(std::span{a,8}, std::span{a+1,3})
        && ends_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a+6,3})
        && !ends_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a+6,2})
        && contains(std::span{a}, std::span{a+1,4})
        && !contains(std::span{a,8}, std::span{a,9}));
}

Output: 

0 1 2 3 4 5 
1 2 3 4 5 6 
2 3 4 5 6 7 
3 4 5 6 7 8

See also

(C++17)
 read-only string view
(class template) [edit]
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