Iterator library

The iterator library provides definitions for five kinds of iterators as well as iterator traits, adapters, and utility functions.

Iterator categories

There are five (until C++17)six (since C++17) kinds of iterators: InputIterator, OutputIterator, ForwardIterator, BidirectionalIterator, RandomAccessIterator, and ContiguousIterator (since C++17).

Instead of being defined by specific types, each category of iterator is defined by the operations that can be performed on it. This definition means that any type that supports the necessary operations can be used as an iterator -- for example, a pointer supports all of the operations required by RandomAccessIterator, so a pointer can be used anywhere a RandomAccessIterator is expected.

All of the iterator categories (except OutputIterator) can be organized into a hierarchy, where more powerful iterator categories (e.g. RandomAccessIterator) support the operations of less powerful categories (e.g. InputIterator). If an iterator falls into one of these categories and also satisfies the requirements of OutputIterator, then it is called a mutable iterator and supports both input and output. Non-mutable iterators are called constant iterators.

Iterator category					Defined operations
ContiguousIterator	RandomAccessIterator	BidirectionalIterator	ForwardIterator	InputIterator	read increment (without multiple passes)
					increment (with multiple passes)
					decrement
					random access
					contiguous storage
Iterators that fall into one of the above categories and also meet the requirements of OutputIterator are called mutable iterators.
OutputIterator					write increment (without multiple passes)

Note: ContiguousIterator category was only formally specified in C++17, but the iterators of std::vector, std::basic_string, std::array, and std::valarray, as well as pointers into C arrays are often treated as a separate category in pre-C++17 code.

Iterator primitives

iterator_traits	provides uniform interface to the properties of an iterator (class template)
input_iterator_tagoutput_iterator_tagforward_iterator_tagbidirectional_iterator_tagrandom_access_iterator_tag	empty class types used to indicate iterator categories (class)
iterator (deprecated in C++17)	base class to ease the definition of required types for simple iterators (class template)

Iterator adaptors

reverse_iterator	iterator adaptor for reverse-order traversal (class template)
make_reverse_iterator (C++14)	creates a std::reverse_iterator of type inferred from the argument (function template)
move_iterator (C++11)	iterator adaptor which dereferences to an rvalue reference (class template)
make_move_iterator (C++11)	creates a std::move_iterator of type inferred from the argument (function template)
back_insert_iterator	iterator adaptor for insertion at the end of a container (class template)
back_inserter	creates a std::back_insert_iterator of type inferred from the argument (function template)
front_insert_iterator	iterator adaptor for insertion at the front of a container (class template)
front_inserter	creates a std::front_insert_iterator of type inferred from the argument (function template)
insert_iterator	iterator adaptor for insertion into a container (class template)
inserter	creates a std::insert_iterator of type inferred from the argument (function template)

Stream iterators

istream_iterator	input iterator that reads from std::basic_istream (class template)
ostream_iterator	output iterator that writes to std::basic_ostream (class template)
istreambuf_iterator	input iterator that reads from std::basic_streambuf (class template)
ostreambuf_iterator	output iterator that writes to std::basic_streambuf (class template)

Iterator operations

Defined in header <iterator>
advance	advances an iterator by given distance (function)
distance	returns the distance between two iterators (function)
next (C++11)	increment an iterator (function)
prev (C++11)	decrement an iterator (function)

Range access

These non-member functions provide a generic interface for containers, plain arrays, and std::initializer_list.

Defined in header <iterator>
begincbegin (C++11)(C++14)	returns an iterator to the beginning of a container or array (function)
endcend (C++11)(C++14)	returns an iterator to the end of a container or array (function)
rbegincrbegin (C++14)	returns a reverse iterator to a container or array (function)
rendcrend (C++14)	returns a reverse end iterator for a container or array (function)

Container access

These non-member functions provide a generic interface for containers, plain arrays, and std::initializer_list.

size (C++17)	returns the size of a container or array (function)
empty (C++17)	checks whether the container is empty (function)
data (C++17)	obtains the pointer to the underlying array (function)