Can I call `delete` on a vector of pointers in C++ via for_each ?

Question

Suppose I have a std::vector objs (for performance reasons I have pointers not actual Objs).

I populate it with obj.push

Answer 1

While you can do this (GMan has shown a solution), having containers with naked pointers to owned resources is a strong code smell. For example, in this code:

  void foo()
  {
    std::vector bar;
    fill(bar);
    use(bar);
    std::for_each(objs.begin(), objs.end(), delete_ptr()); // as GMan suggests
  }

if use() throws, you'll leak objects.

So it's better to use smart pointers for this:

std::vector< std::shared_ptr > bar;