std::max

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Algorithm library

Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
Execution policies (C++17)
is_execution_policy (C++17)   execution::seqexecution::parexecution::par_unseqexecution::unseq (C++17)    (C++17)(C++17)(C++20)	execution::sequenced_policyexecution::parallel_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)
Non-modifying sequence operations Batch operations for_each for_each_n (C++17) Search operations all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)                (C++11)(C++11) countcount_if mismatch equal findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n Modifying sequence operations Copy operations copycopy_if (C++11) copy_backward copy_n (C++11) move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) Swap operations swap iter_swap swap_ranges Transformation operations replacereplace_if transform replace_copyreplace_copy_if Generation operations fill fill_n generate generate_n Removing operations removeremove_if unique remove_copyremove_copy_if unique_copy Order-changing operations reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffleshuffle (until C++17)(C++11) shift_leftshift_right (C++20)(C++20) Sampling operations sample (C++17)	Sorting and related operations Partitioning operations partition partition_copy (C++11)   stable_partition is_partitioned (C++11) partition_point (C++11) Sorting operations sort stable_sort partial_sort partial_sort_copy is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) nth_element Binary search operations (on partitioned ranges) lower_bound upper_bound equal_range binary_search Set operations (on sorted ranges) includes set_union set_intersection set_difference set_symmetric_difference Merge operations (on sorted ranges) merge inplace_merge Heap operations push_heap pop_heap make_heap sort_heap is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11) Minimum/maximum operations max min minmax (C++11) clamp (C++17) max_element min_element minmax_element (C++11) Lexicographical comparison operations lexicographical_compare lexicographical_compare_three_way (C++20) Permutation operations next_permutation prev_permutation is_permutation (C++11) C library qsort bsearch
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) inner_product adjacent_difference    accumulate reduce (C++17) transform_reduce (C++17)	partial_sum inclusive_scan (C++17)    exclusive_scan (C++17) transform_inclusive_scan (C++17) transform_exclusive_scan (C++17)
Operations on uninitialized memory
uninitialized_copy uninitialized_move (C++17)    uninitialized_fill uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_fill_n	destroy (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) construct_at (C++20)       uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17)

 

Template:ddcl list begin <tr class="t-dsc-header">

<td>

Defined in header <algorithm>

</td>

<td></td> <td></td> </tr> <tr class="t-dcl ">

<td >

template< class T >
const T& max( const T& a, const T& b );

</td>

<td > (1) </td> <td class="t-dcl-nopad"> </td> </tr> <tr class="t-dcl ">

<td >

template< class T, class Compare >
const T& max( const T& a, const T& b, Compare cmp );

</td>

<td > (2) </td> <td class="t-dcl-nopad"> </td> </tr> <tr class="t-dcl ">

<td >

template< class T >
T max( std::initializer_list<T> ilist);

</td>

<td > (3) </td> <td > (since C++11) </td> </tr> <tr class="t-dcl ">

<td >

template< class T, class Compare >
T max( std::initializer_list<T> ilist, Compare cmp );

</td>

<td > (4) </td> <td > (since C++11) </td> </tr> Template:ddcl list end

1-2) Returns the greater of the two values.

3-4) Returns the greatest of the values in initializer list ilist.

The (1,3) versions use operator< to compare the values, the (2,4) versions use the given comparison function cmp.

Parameters

a, b	-	the values to compare
ilist	-	initializer list with the values to compare
cmp	-	comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns true if if a is less than b. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1& a, const Type2& b); While the signature does not need to have const&, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) Type1 and Type2 regardless of value category (thus, Type1& is not allowed, nor is Type1 unless for Type1 a move is equivalent to a copy(since C++11)). The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type T can be implicitly converted to both of them.
Type requirements
- T must meet the requirements of LessThanComparable. for the overloads (1) and (3)
- T must meet the requirements of CopyConstructible. for the overloads (3) and (4)

Return value

1-2) The greater of a and b. If they are equivalent, returns a.

3-4) The greatest value in ilist. If several values are equivalent to the greatest, returns the leftmost one.

Complexity

1-2) Constant

3-4) Linear in ilist.size()

Possible implementation

First version
template<class T> const T& max(const T& a, const T& b) { return (a < b) ? b : a; }
Second version
template<class T, class Compare> const T& max(const T& a, const T& b, Compare cmp) { return (cmp(a, b)) ? b : a; }
Third version
template< class T > T max( std::initializer_list<T> ilist) { return *std::max_element(ilist.begin(), ilist.end()); }
Fourth version
template< class T, class Compare > T max( std::initializer_list<T> ilist, Compare cmp ) { return *std::max_element(ilist.begin(), ilist.end(), cmp); }

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <string> 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "larger of 1 and 9999: " << std::max(1, 9999) << '\n'
              << "larger of 'a', and 'b': " << std::max('a', 'b') << '\n'
              << "longest of \"foo\", \"bar\", and \"hello\": " <<
                  std::max( { "foo", "bar", "hello" },
                            [](const std::string& s1, const std::string& s2) {
                                 return s1.size() < s2.size();
                             }) << '\n';
}

Output:

larger of 1 and 9999: 9999
larger of 'a', and 'b': b
longest of "foo", "bar", and "hello": hello

See also

Template:cpp/algorithm/dcl list minTemplate:cpp/algorithm/dcl list minmaxTemplate:cpp/algorithm/dcl list max element