push_back vs emplace_back

Question

I\'m a bit confused regarding the difference between push_back and emplace_back.

void emplace_back(Type&& _Val);
void push_         


        

Answer 1

Optimization for emplace_back can be demonstrated in next example.

For emplace_back constructor A (int x_arg) will be called. And for push_back A (int x_arg) is called first and move A (A &&rhs) is called afterwards.

Of course, the constructor has to be marked as explicit, but for current example is good to remove explicitness.

#include 
#include 
class A
{
public:
  A (int x_arg) : x (x_arg) { std::cout << "A (x_arg)\n"; }
  A () { x = 0; std::cout << "A ()\n"; }
  A (const A &rhs) noexcept { x = rhs.x; std::cout << "A (A &)\n"; }
  A (A &&rhs) noexcept { x = rhs.x; std::cout << "A (A &&)\n"; }

private:
  int x;
};

int main ()
{
  {
    std::vector a;
    std::cout << "call emplace_back:\n";
    a.emplace_back (0);
  }
  {
    std::vector a;
    std::cout << "call push_back:\n";
    a.push_back (1);
  }
  return 0;
}

output:

call emplace_back:
A (x_arg)

call push_back:
A (x_arg)
A (A &&)