std::equal_range

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
template< class ForwardIt, class T > std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value );	(1)
template< class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare > std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> equal_range( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value, Compare comp );	(2)

Returns a range containing all elements equivalent to value in the range [first, last).

The range [first, last) must be partitioned with respect to comparison with value, i.e. it must satisfy all of the following requirements:

partitioned with respect to element < value or comp(element, value)
partitioned with respect to !(value < element) or !comp(value, element)
for all elements, if element < value or comp(element, value) is true then !(value < element) or !comp(value, element) is also true

A fully-sorted range meets these criteria, as does a range resulting from a call to std::partition.

The returned range is defined by two iterators, one pointing to the first element that is not less than value and another pointing to the first element greater than value. The first iterator may be alternatively obtained with std::lower_bound(), the second - with std::upper_bound().

The first version uses operator< to compare the elements, the second version uses the given comparison function comp.

Parameters

first, last - the range of elements to examine

value - value to compare the elements to

comp

-

comparison function which returns true if the first argument is less than the second.

The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following:

bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b);

The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it.
cmp will be called as both cmp(value, *iterator) and cmp(*iterator, value).

Type requirements

-

ForwardIt must meet the requirements of ForwardIterator.

Return value

std::pair containing a pair of iterators defining the wanted range, the first pointing to the first element that is not less than value and the second pointing to the first element greater than value.

If there are no elements not less than value, last is returned as the first element. Similarly if there are no elements greater than value, last is returned as the second element

Complexity

The number of comparisons performed is logarithmic in the distance between first and last (At most $2 * log 2 (last - first) + O(1)$ comparisons). However, for non-RandomAccessIterators, the number of iterator increments is linear.

Possible implementation

First version

template<class ForwardIt, class T>
std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> 
    equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,
                const T& value)
{
    return std::make_pair(std::lower_bound(first, last, value),
                          std::upper_bound(first, last, value));
}

Second version

template<class ForwardIt, class T, class Compare>
std::pair<ForwardIt,ForwardIt> 
    equal_range(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last,
                const T& value, Compare comp);
{
    return std::make_pair(std::lower_bound(first, last, value, comp),
                          std::upper_bound(first, last, value, comp));
}

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
 
struct S
{
    int number;
    char name;
 
    S ( int number, char name  )
        : number ( number ), name ( name )
    {}
 
    // only the number is relevant with this comparison
    bool operator< ( const S& s ) const
    {
        return number < s.number;
    }
};
 
 
int main()
{
    // note: not ordered, only partitioned w.r.t. S defined below
    std::vector<S> vec = { {1,'A'}, {2,'B'}, {2,'C'}, {2,'D'}, {4,'G'}, {3,'F'} };
 
    S value ( 2, '?' );
 
    auto p = std::equal_range(vec.begin(),vec.end(),value);
 
    for ( auto i = p.first; i != p.second; ++i )
        std::cout << i->name << ' ';
}

Output:

B C D

Example With Comparator