How do I find an element position in std::vector?

Question

I need to find an element position in an std::vector to use it for referencing an element in another vector:

int find( const vector& whe         


        

Answer 1

std::vector has random-access iterators. You can do pointer arithmetic with them. In particular, this my_vec.begin() + my_vec.size() == my_vec.end() always holds. So you could do

const vector<type>::const_iterator pos = std::find_if( firstVector.begin()
                                                     , firstVector.end()
                                                     , some_predicate(parameter) );
if( position != firstVector.end() ) {
    const vector<type>::size_type idx = pos-firstVector.begin();
    doAction( secondVector[idx] );
}

As an alternative, there's always std::numeric_limits<vector<type>::size_type>::max() to be used as an invalid value.

Answer 2

You could use std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max() for elements that was not found. It is a valid value, but it is impossible to create container with such max index. If std::vector has size equal to std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max(), then maximum allowed index will be (std::numeric_limits<size_t>::max()-1), since elements counted from 0.

Answer 3

In this case, it is safe to cast away the unsigned portion unless your vector can get REALLY big.

I would pull out the where.size() to a local variable since it won't change during the call. Something like this:

int find( const vector<type>& where, int searchParameter ){
    int size = static_cast<int>(where.size());
    for( int i = 0; i < size; i++ ) {
       if( conditionMet( where[i], searchParameter ) ) {
           return i;
       }
    }
    return -1;
}

Answer 4

Something like this, I think. find_if_counted.hpp:

#ifndef FIND_IF_COUNTED_HPP
#define FIND_IF_COUNTED_HPP

#include <algorithm>

namespace find_if_counted_impl
{
    template <typename Func>
    struct func_counter
    {
        explicit func_counter(Func& func, unsigned &count) :
        _func(func),
        _count(count)
        {
        }

        template <typename T>
        bool operator()(const T& t)
        {
            ++_count;

            return _func(t);
        }

    private:
        Func& _func;
        unsigned& _count;
    };
}

// generic find_if_counted,
// returns the index of the found element, otherwise returns find_if_not_found
const size_t find_if_not_found = static_cast<size_t>(-1);

template <typename InputIterator, typename Func>
size_t find_if_counted(InputIterator start, InputIterator finish, Func func)
{
    unsigned count = 0;
    find_if_counted_impl::func_counter<Func> f(func, count);

    InputIterator result = find_if(start, finish, f);

    if (result == finish)
    {
        return find_if_not_found;
    }
    else
    {
        return count - 1;
    }
}

#endif

Example:

#include "find_if_counted.hpp"
#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

typedef std::vector<int> container;

int rand_number(void)
{
    return rand()  % 20;
}

bool is_even(int i)
{
    return i % 2 == 0;
}

int main(void)
{
    container vec1(10);
    container vec2(10);

    std::generate(vec1.begin(), vec1.end(), rand_number);
    std::generate(vec2.begin(), vec2.end(), rand_number);

    unsigned index = find_if_counted(vec1.begin(), vec1.end(), is_even);

    if (index == find_if_not_found)
    {
        std::cout << "vec1 has no even numbers." << std::endl;
    }
    else
    {
        std::cout << "vec1 had an even number at index: " << index <<
            " vec2's corresponding number is: " << vec2[index] << std::endl;
    }
}

Though I feel like I'm doing something silly... :X Any corrections are welcome, of course.

Answer 5

Take a vector of integer and a key (that we find in vector )....Now we are traversing the vector until found the key value or last index(otherwise).....If we found key then print the position , otherwise print "-1".

     #include <bits/stdc++.h>  
     using namespace std;  

     int main()  
      {  
          vector<int>str;  
          int flag,temp key, ,len,num;

           flag=0;
           cin>>len;

           for(int i=1; i<=len; i++)  
           {
               cin>>key;
               v.push_back(key);
           }

           cin>>num;

           for(int i=1; i<=len; i++)  
           {  
             if(str[i]==num)  
             {  
                flag++;  
                temp=i-1;
                break;
             }  
           }

         if(flag!=0)    cout<<temp<<endl;
         else           cout<<"-1"<<endl;   
         str.clear();   

         return 0;  
      }

Answer 6

Take a look at the answers provided for this question: Invalid value for size_t?. Also you can use std::find_if with std::distance to get the index.

std::vector<type>::iterator iter = std::find_if(vec.begin(), vec.end(), comparisonFunc);
size_t index = std::distance(vec.begin(), iter);
if(index == vec.size()) 
{
    //invalid
}