Re: the correct way to delete a map

From:
"Daniel T." <daniel_t@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:38:43 -0500
Message-ID:
<daniel_t-A556FF.08384308112007@earthlink.vsrv-sjc.supernews.net>
Nick Keighley <nick_keighley_nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:

I have a map containing pointers. When I destroy the map I want to
delete all the pointers.

typedef std::map<std::string, const T*> Table;

void destroy_map ()
{
    for (Table::iterator i = table_.begin(); i != table_.end(); ++i)
    {
         delete (*i).second;
         table_.erase (i);
    }
}

this crashes. Does the erase() invalidate the iterator?


Yes. Try this instead:

void destroy_map()
{
   for ( Table::iterator i = table_.begin(); i != table_.end(); ++i )
   {
      delete i->second;
      i->second = 0; // I don't think this is strictly necessary...
   }
   table_.clear();
}

or if you want to have fun with algorithms:

typedef map<int, int*> Table;

   template < typename T >
void delete_second( T& t ) {
   delete t.second;
   t.second = 0;
}

void destroy_map()
{
   for_each( table_.begin(), table_.end(),
      &delete_second<Table::value_type> );
   table_.clear();
}

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