Re: Initializing iterators to one past end() in for loops

From:
Noah Roberts <dont@email.me>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.c++
Date:
Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:16:32 -0700
Message-ID:
<4da63ccd$0$14279$cc2e38e6@news.uslec.net>
On 4/13/2011 3:32 PM, Kai-Uwe Bux wrote:

Kai-Uwe Bux wrote:

Leigh Johnston wrote:

On 13/04/2011 22:48, Kai-Uwe Bux wrote:

Nikos Chantziaras wrote:

Is there some simple way to convert this:

     std::vector<int> vec;
     // ...
     for (size_t i = 1; i< vec.size(); ++i)
         // do something with vec[i]

to a for-loop that uses iterators? I've tried:

     typedef std::vector<int>::iterator it_t;
     for (it_t i = vec.begin() + 1; i != vec.end(); ++i)
         // do something with *i

but I'm not surprised that it doesn't work.


Iterators for std::vector<> are random access. Hence, they
are<-comparable and you can add integers to them. So, you should be able
to translate one- to-one:

    for ( std::vector<int>::iterator iter = vec.begin() + 1;
          iter< vec.end(); ++ iter ) {
      // do something with *iter
    }


If the vector is empty then surely vec.begin() + 1 is UB?


Hm, my first impulse was to say: "oh, true; that kills it". However, upon
looking up table 76 in the standard, it appears that

   r += n

has no pre-condition (like r is dereferencable). Now, r+n is defined in
terms of r += n. Also, the dereferencability precondition is mentioned at
other places (e.g., for ++r in table 74 about forward iterators). So,
maybe vec.begin()+1 is not undefined behavior after all. Of course, it
could also be an omission in the standard, or it could be that I am too
tired to figure it out correctly.


Seems, it was the third option:

   [24.1/5] Iterators can also have singular values that are not associated
   with any container. [Example: After the declaration of an uninitialized
   pointer x (as with int* x;), x must always be assumed to have a singular
   value of a pointer. ] Results of most expressions are undefined for
   singular values; the only exception is an assignment of a non-singular
   value to an iterator that holds a singular value. In this case the
   singular value is overwritten the same way as any other value.
   Dereferenceable values are always non-singular.

Hence, vec.begin()+1 is not UB (as vec.begin() is non-singular), but
assigning the resulting singular value to the iterator variable iter is UB.


The problem here though is that if you where interpreting correctly then
pointers could not be iterators since (arr + sizeof(arr))++ is UB.

Luckily I believe you're interpreting incorrectly. The quote you show
there quite explicitly calls "most expressions are undefined...". The
only exception it provides is assignment FROM a non-singular. It seems
to be quite clearly illustrating that default constructed and
uninitialized iterators can exist but that you'd better not do anything
with them but assign to them from a valid iterator value that actually
iterates something. Further it isn't allowing for incrementing an
iterator past end().

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