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std::equal_range

From cppreference.com
 
 
Algorithm library
Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
Non-modifying sequence operations    
Batch operations
(C++17)
Search operations
Modifying sequence operations
Copy operations
(C++11)
(C++11)
Swap operations
Transformation operations
Generation operations
Removing operations
Order-changing operations
(until C++17)(C++11)
(C++20)(C++20)
Sampling operations
(C++17)

Sorting and related operations
Partitioning operations
(C++11)    

Sorting operations
Binary search operations
(on partitioned ranges)
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
Merge operations (on sorted ranges)
Heap operations
Minimum/maximum operations
(C++11)
(C++17)
Lexicographical comparison operations
Permutation operations


 
Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class ForwardIt, class T >
std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt> 
    equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value );
(1) (constexpr since C++20)
(until C++26)
template< class ForwardIt,
          class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type >
constexpr std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt> 
    equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value );
(since C++26)
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare >
std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt> 
    equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,
                 const T& value, Compare comp );
(2) (constexpr since C++20)
(until C++26)
template< class ForwardIt,
          class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type,
          class Compare >
constexpr std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt> 
    equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,
                 const T& value, Compare comp );
(since C++26)

Searches for the range containing all elements equivalent to value in the partitioned source range [first, last). An element is considered equivalent to value if it neither orders before nor orders after value.

1) The order is determined by operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).
Given two expressions bool(e < value) and !bool(value < e)(until C++20)bool(std::less{}(e, value)) and !bool(std::less{}(value, e))(since C++20). If any of the following conditions is satisfied, the behavior is undefined:
  • The elements e of the source range are not partitioned with respect to these two expressions at the same time.
  • There exists an element e in the source range such that these two expressions yield different values.
2) The order is determined by comp.
Given two expressions bool(comp(e, value)) and !bool(comp(value, e)). If any of the following conditions is satisfied, the behavior is undefined:
  • The elements e of the source range are not partitioned with respect to these two expressions at the same time.
  • There exists an element e in the source range such that these two expressions yield different values.

Parameters

first, last - the pair of iterators defining the source range
value - value to compare the elements to
comp - binary predicate which returns ​true if the first argument is ordered before the second.

The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the following:

bool pred(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 type Type1 must be such that an object of type ForwardIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to Type1. The type Type2 must be such that an object of type T can be implicitly converted to Type2. ​

Type requirements
-
ForwardIt must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
-
Compare must meet the requirements of BinaryPredicate. It is not required to satisfy Compare.

Return value

A std::pair object, where:

  • The data member first holds an iterator to the first element which is not ordered beforevalue, or last if no such element is found.
  • The data member second holds an iterator to the first element which is ordered after value, or last if no such element is found.

Complexity

Given N as std::distance(first, last):

1) At most 2log2(N)+𝓞(1) comparisons with value using operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).
2) At most 2log2(N)+𝓞(1) applications of the comparator comp.

Notes

Although std::equal_range only requires the source range to be partitioned, this algorithm is usually used in the case where the source range is sorted, so that the binary search is valid for any value.

On top of the requirements of std::lower_bound and std::upper_bound, std::equal_range also requires operator< or comp to be asymmetric (i.e., a < b and b < a always have different results).

Therefore, the intermediate results of binary search can be shared by std::lower_bound and std::upper_bound. For example, the result of the std::lower_bound call can be used as the argument of first in the std::upper_bound call.

If ForwardIt is not a LegacyRandomAccessIterator, the number of iterator increments is linear in std::distance(first, last). Notably, std::set and std::multiset iterators are not random access, and so their member functions std::set::equal_range (resp. std::multiset::equal_range) should be preferred.

Feature-test macro Value Std Feature
__cpp_lib_algorithm_default_value_type 202403 (C++26) List-initialization for algorithms (1,2)

Possible implementation

equal_range (1)
template<class ForwardIt,
         class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type>
constexpr std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt> 
    equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value)
{
    return std::equal_range(first, last, value, std::less{});
}
equal_range (2)
template<class ForwardIt,
         class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type,
         class Compare>
constexpr std::pair<ForwardIt, ForwardIt>
    equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt 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 <complex>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

struct S
{
    int number;
    char name;
    // note: name is ignored by this comparison operator
    bool operator<(const S& s) const { return number < s.number; }
};

struct Comp
{
    bool operator()(const S& s, int i) const { return s.number < i; }
    bool operator()(int i, const S& s) const { return i < s.number; }
};

int main()
{
    // note: not ordered, only partitioned w.r.t. S defined below
    const std::vector<S> vec{{1, 'A'}, {2, 'B'}, {2, 'C'},
                             {2, 'D'}, {4, 'G'}, {3, 'F'}};
    const S value{2, '?'};
    
    std::cout << "Compare using S::operator<(): ";
    const auto p = std::equal_range(vec.begin(), vec.end(), value);
    
    for (auto it = p.first; it != p.second; ++it)
        std::cout << it->name << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
    
    std::cout << "Using heterogeneous comparison: ";
    const auto p2 = std::equal_range(vec.begin(), vec.end(), 2, Comp{});
    
    for (auto it = p2.first; it != p2.second; ++it)
        std::cout << it->name << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
    
    using CD = std::complex<double>;
    std::vector<CD> nums{{1, 0}, {2, 2}, {2, 1}, {3, 0}, {3, 1}};
    auto cmpz = [](CD x, CD y) { return x.real() < y.real(); };
    #ifdef __cpp_lib_algorithm_default_value_type
        auto p3 = std::equal_range(nums.cbegin(), nums.cend(), {2, 0}, cmpz);
    #else
        auto p3 = std::equal_range(nums.cbegin(), nums.cend(), CD{2, 0}, cmpz);
    #endif
    
    for (auto it = p3.first; it != p3.second; ++it)
        std::cout << *it << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}

Output:

Compare using S::operator<(): B C D 
Using heterogeneous comparison: B C D
(2,2) (2, 1)

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 270 C++98 Compare was required to satisfy Compare and T was required
to be LessThanComparable (strict weak ordering required)
only a partitioning is required;
heterogeneous comparisons permitted
LWG 384 C++98 at most 2log2(N)+1 comparisons
were allowed, which is not implementable[1]
corrected to 2log2(N)+𝓞(1)
  1. ↑ Applying equal_range to a single-element range requires 2 comparisons, but at most 1 comparison is allowed by the complexity requirement.

See also

finds the range of elements matching the given value using binary search
(algorithm function object)[edit]
finds the first element not less than the given value using binary search
(function template & algorithm function object)[edit]
finds the first element greater than the given value using binary search
(function template & algorithm function object)[edit]
determines if an element exists in a range using binary search
(function template & algorithm function object)[edit]
divides a range of elements into two groups
(function template & algorithm function object)[edit]
determines if two sets of elements are the same
(function template & algorithm function object)[edit]
returns range of elements matching a specific key
(public member function of std::set<Key,Compare,Allocator>) [edit]
returns range of elements matching a specific key
(public member function of std::multiset<Key,Compare,Allocator>) [edit]