What is the easiest way to initialize a std::vector with hardcoded elements?

Question

I can create an array and initialize it like this:

int a[] = {10, 20, 30};

How do I create a std::vector and initialize it sim

Answer 1

If your compiler supports C++11, you can simply do:

std::vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4};

This is available in GCC as of version 4.4. Unfortunately, VC++ 2010 seems to be lagging behind in this respect.

Alternatively, the Boost.Assign library uses non-macro magic to allow the following:

#include <boost/assign/list_of.hpp>
...
std::vector<int> v = boost::assign::list_of(1)(2)(3)(4);

Or:

#include <boost/assign/std/vector.hpp>
using namespace boost::assign;
...
std::vector<int> v;
v += 1, 2, 3, 4;

But keep in mind that this has some overhead (basically, list_of constructs a std::deque under the hood) so for performance-critical code you'd be better off doing as Yacoby says.

Answer 2

If your compiler supports Variadic macros (which is true for most modern compilers), then you can use the following macro to turn vector initialization into a one-liner:

#define INIT_VECTOR(type, name, ...) \
static const type name##_a[] = __VA_ARGS__; \
vector<type> name(name##_a, name##_a + sizeof(name##_a) / sizeof(*name##_a))

With this macro, you can define an initialized vector with code like this:

INIT_VECTOR(int, my_vector, {1, 2, 3, 4});

This would create a new vector of ints named my_vector with the elements 1, 2, 3, 4.

Answer 3

There are various ways to hardcode a vector, i will share few ways:

1. Initializing by pushing values one by one

// Create an empty vector 
    vector<int> vect;  

    vect.push_back(10); 
    vect.push_back(20); 
    vect.push_back(30); 

2. Initializing like arrays

vector<int> vect{ 10, 20, 30 };

3. Initializing from an array

    int arr[] = { 10, 20, 30 }; 
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]); 

    vector<int> vect(arr, arr + n); 

4. Initializing from another vector

    vector<int> vect1{ 10, 20, 30 }; 

    vector<int> vect2(vect1.begin(), vect1.end()); 

Answer 4

// Before C++11
// I used following methods:

// 1.
int A[] = {10, 20, 30};                              // original array A

unsigned sizeOfA = sizeof(A)/sizeof(A[0]);           // calculate the number of elements

                                                     // declare vector vArrayA,
std::vector<int> vArrayA(sizeOfA);                   // make room for all
                                                     // array A integers
                                                     // and initialize them to 0 

for(unsigned i=0; i<sizeOfA; i++)
    vArrayA[i] = A[i];                               // initialize vector vArrayA


//2.
int B[] = {40, 50, 60, 70};                          // original array B

std::vector<int> vArrayB;                            // declare vector vArrayB
for (unsigned i=0; i<sizeof(B)/sizeof(B[0]); i++)
    vArrayB.push_back(B[i]);                         // initialize vArrayB

//3.
int C[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};                              // original array C

std::vector<int> vArrayC;                            // create an empty vector vArrayC
vArrayC.resize(sizeof(C)/sizeof(C[0]));              // enlarging the number of 
                                                     // contained elements
for (unsigned i=0; i<sizeof(C)/sizeof(C[0]); i++)
     vArrayC.at(i) = C[i];                           // initialize vArrayC


// A Note:
// Above methods will work well for complex arrays
// with structures as its elements.

Answer 5

"How do I create an STL vector and initialize it like the above? What is the best way to do so with the minimum typing effort?"

The easiest way to initialize a vector as you've initialized your built-in array is using an initializer list which was introduced in C++11.

// Initializing a vector that holds 2 elements of type int.
Initializing:
std::vector<int> ivec = {10, 20};


// The push_back function is more of a form of assignment with the exception of course
//that it doesn't obliterate the value of the object it's being called on.
Assigning
ivec.push_back(30);

ivec is 3 elements in size after Assigning (labeled statement) is executed.