How to find out if an item is present in a std::ve

Question

All I want to do is to check whether an element exists in the vector or not, so I can deal with each case.

if ( item_present )
   do_this();
else
   do_that();

Answer 1

Here's a function that will work for any Container:

template <class Container> 
const bool contains(const Container& container, const typename Container::value_type& element) 
{
    return std::find(container.begin(), container.end(), element) != container.end();
}

Note that you can get away with 1 template parameter because you can extract the value_type from the Container. You need the typename because Container::value_type is a dependent name.

Answer 2

If your vector is not ordered, use the approach MSN suggested:

if(std::find(vector.begin(), vector.end(), item)!=vector.end()){
      // Found the item
}

If your vector is ordered, use binary_search method Brian Neal suggested:

if(binary_search(vector.begin(), vector.end(), item)){
     // Found the item
}

binary search yields O(log n) worst-case performance, which is way more efficient than the first approach. In order to use binary search, you may use qsort to sort the vector first to guarantee it is ordered.

Answer 3

Bear in mind that, if you're going to be doing a lot of lookups, there are STL containers that are better for that. I don't know what your application is, but associative containers like std::map may be worth considering.

std::vector is the container of choice unless you have a reason for another, and lookups by value can be such a reason.

Answer 4

In C++11 you can use any_of. For example if it is a vector<string> v; then:

if (any_of(v.begin(), v.end(), bind2nd(equal_to<string>(), item)))
   do_this();
else
   do_that();

Answer 5

If you wanna find a string in a vector:

    struct isEqual
{
    isEqual(const std::string& s): m_s(s)
    {}

    bool operator()(OIDV* l)
    {
        return l->oid == m_s;
    }

    std::string m_s;
};
struct OIDV
{
    string oid;
//else
};
VecOidv::iterator itFind=find_if(vecOidv.begin(),vecOidv.end(),isEqual(szTmp));

Answer 6

Another sample using C++ operators.

#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <stdexcept>

template<typename T>
inline static bool operator ==(const std::vector<T>& v, const T& elem)
{
  return (std::find(v.begin(), v.end(), elem) != v.end());
}

template<typename T>
inline static bool operator !=(const std::vector<T>& v, const T& elem)
{
  return (std::find(v.begin(), v.end(), elem) == v.end());
}

enum CODEC_ID {
  CODEC_ID_AAC,
  CODEC_ID_AC3,
  CODEC_ID_H262,
  CODEC_ID_H263,
  CODEC_ID_H264,
  CODEC_ID_H265,
  CODEC_ID_MAX
};

void main()
{
  CODEC_ID codec = CODEC_ID_H264;
  std::vector<CODEC_ID> codec_list;

  codec_list.reserve(CODEC_ID_MAX);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_AAC);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_AC3);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_H262);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_H263);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_H264);
  codec_list.push_back(CODEC_ID_H265);

  if (codec_list != codec)
  {
    throw std::runtime_error("codec not found!");
  }

  if (codec_list == codec)
  {
    throw std::logic_error("codec has been found!");
  }
}