I've got this code and I cannot understand part where equal_range method returns iterators.
I know range is pair object with two multimap objects inside, but what I don't get, is why there is 'for (it = range.first; it != range.second; ++it)'
- What does this mean exactly ?
// multmap.cpp -- use a multimap
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <map>
#include <algorithm>
typedef int KeyType;
typedef std::pair<const KeyType, std::string> Pair;
typedef std::multimap<KeyType, std::string> MapCode;
int main()
{
using namespace std;
MapCode codes;
codes.insert(Pair(415, "San Francisco"));
codes.insert(Pair(510, "Oakland"));
codes.insert(Pair(718, "Brooklyn"));
codes.insert(Pair(718, "Staten Island"));
codes.insert(Pair(415, "San Rafael"));
codes.insert(Pair(510, "Berkeley"));
cout << "Number of cities with area code 415: "
<< codes.count(415) << endl;
cout << "Number of cities with area code 718: "
<< codes.count(718) << endl;
cout << "Number of cities with area code 510: "
<< codes.count(510) << endl;
cout << "Area Code City\n";
MapCode::iterator it;
for (it = codes.begin(); it != codes.end(); ++it)
cout << " " << (*it).first << " "
<< (*it).second << endl;
pair<MapCode::iterator, MapCode::iterator> range
= codes.equal_range(718);
cout << "Cities with area code 718:\n";
for (it = range.first; it != range.second; ++it) //<------------------ here
cout << (*it).second << endl;
return 0;
}
The iterators in the pair define the range of items with keys equal to what you searched for in the manner [range.first, range.second)
.
This means that to iterate over that range, you start from range.first
and advance the iterator until it reaches range.second
, which means that you have just stepped off the equal range. Conceptually it's the same as what happens when you iterate over a range [container.begin(), container.end())
.