c++sortingpointerslanguage-lawyerstrict-weak-ordering

Does a program with std::map<T*, U> have well-defined behaviour?


Comparing pointers to unrelated objects has unspecified results.

That would seem to suggest that this program may have undefined behaviour, at the very least because we cannot guarantee a strict weak ordering on the key type:

#include <map>

int main()
{
    int x = 0, y = 1;
    bool arbitrary = false;

    std::map<int*, bool> m{
       {&x, arbitrary},
       {&y, arbitrary}
    };
}

More generally, then, can we say that a map with pointer keys is a dangerous* proposition? Or is there some special rule we can lean on here?

* Academically speaking, that is; in reality I'm not aware of mainstream implementations that will actually raise hell over comparing arbitrary pointers.


Solution

  • Yes, because std::map default comparison operator is std::less, which, unlike the standard comparison operator, is completely defined for pointer types.

    [comparisons#2]

    For templates less, greater, less_­equal, and greater_­equal, the specializations for any pointer type yield a result consistent with the implementation-defined strict total order over pointers ([defns.order.ptr]).

    The implementation-defined strict total order over pointers is defined in [defns.order.ptr] as:

    implementation-defined strict total ordering over all pointer values such that the ordering is consistent with the partial order imposed by the builtin operators <, >, <=, >=, and <=>