lower_bound() giving unexpected result - c++

I wrote a code where I need to find lower_bound from square number sequence. But lower bound giving me result for upper_bound.
Here is my code & compiler link: http://cpp.sh/3cppb
// Example program
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
int main()
{
std::vector<int> v{ 1, 4, 9, 16, 25 }; // all the square numbers
int x = std::lower_bound(v.begin(), v.end(), 5) - v.begin() ;
std:: cout<<"Postion "<<x<< " value "<<v[x] <<std::endl; //getting output for upperbound
}
Output:
Postion 2 value 9
Expected Output
Postion 1 value 4

std::lower_bound returns the iterator to the first element which is greater or equal to the target value:
Returns an iterator pointing to the first element in the range [first,
last) that is not less than (i.e. greater or equal to) value, or last
if no such element is found.
As 9 is the first value which is greater or equal to 5 (it is greater, of course), the result is totally correct.
If you tried to find an element which is already in v, like 9, then you would get different results for std::lower_bound and std::upper_bound:
std::distance(begin(v), std::lower_bound(begin(v), end(v), 9)); // 2
std::distance(begin(v), std::upper_bound(begin(v), end(v), 9)); // 3

std::lower_bound is working correctly. The function returns the first element that is not less than the value provided. Since 9 is the first value that is not less than 5 you get that element.
std::upper_bound in this case will return the same element as it returns the first element greater than the specified value. Where you will see a difference is cases like
std::vector data = {4,4,4};
auto low = std::lower_bound(data.begin(), data.end(), 4);
auto high = std::upper_bound(data.begin(), data.end(), 4);
In this case low will be begin() as 4 is not less than 4 while high will be end() as there is no element greater than 4 in the vector.

The quotation from the Standard, [lower.bound]:
template<class ForwardIterator, class T>
ForwardIterator lower_bound(ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last, const T& value);
Returns: The furthermost iterator i in the range [first,last] such that for every iterator j in the range [first,i) the following corresponding conditions hold: *j < value.

Related

Retrieving index of vector using std::upper_bound, index out of bounds

I am attempting to retrieve a vector's index based on it's value using std::upper_bound. For some reason though, the following code sets tmpKey equal to 2 vs my expected value of 1. Does anything stick out as being horribly wrong?
int main()
{
float time = 30.0000000;
std::vector<float> positionKeyTimes = { 0.000000000, 30.0000000 };
auto it = std::upper_bound(positionKeyTimes.begin(), positionKeyTimes.end(), time);
auto tmpKey = (size_t)(it - positionKeyTimes.begin());
std::cout << tmpKey << "\n";
std::cin.get();
}
std::upper_bound
Returns an iterator pointing to the first element in the range [first, last) that is greater than value, or last if no such element is found.
There's no element greater than 30 in your vector, so the end iterator is returned.
To get your expected value you could use std::lower_bound instead, which
Returns an iterator pointing to the first element in the range [first, last) that is not less than (i.e. greater or equal to) value, or last if no such element is found.
Remembering that
The range [first, last) must be partitioned with respect to the expression element < value or comp(element, value), i.e., all elements for which the expression is true must precede all elements for which the expression is false. A fully-sorted range meets this criterion.

Using comparator in upper_bound STL

I'm trying to make a program that gives the last element that is less than or equal to our given value.
According to the definition of lower_bound, it gives the first element that is greater than or equal to the given key value passed. I created a comparator function
bool compare(int a, int b) {
return a <= b;
}
This was passed in my lower bound function:
int largest_idx = lower_bound(ic, ic + n, m, compare)
On execution, it was giving me the last element which was less than equal to my m (key value). Isn't this opposite to how lower_bound works ? Lower bound is supposed to give me the first value for my comparison or does the comparator actually change that?
If you want to turn "first" into "last", you have two options. First, you can use std::upper_bound and then take the previous element (see below). Second, you can use reverse iterators:
const auto pos = std::lower_bound(
std::make_reverse_iterator(ic + n),
std::make_reverse_iterator(ic), m, compare);
where compare is
bool compare(int a, int b) {
return b < a;
}
With this comparator, std::lower_bound() returns the iterator pointing to the first element that is not greater (= less than or equal) than m. On the reversed range this is equivalent to returning the iterator pointing to the last element satisfying this criterion in the original range.
Simple example:
int ic[] = {1, 3, 3, 5};
// pos
// m = 1 ^
// m = 2 ^
// m = 3 ^
How do I modify that search criteria (change <= to something else)?
std::lower_bound finds the first element in the range (partitioned by the comparator into true, ..., true, false, ... false), for which the comparator returns false. If your criterion can be rephrased in this language, you can use std::lower_bound.
Suppose we have a range 1 3 3 5 and we replace < with <= (your version of compare). Then we have:
1 3 3 5
m = 2 T F F F
m = 3 T T T F
m = 4 T T T F
For m = 3 and m = 4, std::lower_bound will return the iterator to 5, i.e. past the last 3. In other words, std::lower_bound with default < being replaced with <= is exactly what std::upper_bound with default < is. You can advance the resulting iterator by -1 to get the last element (but be careful about corner cases like m = 0 in this example).
How do I change whether I want the first or last element
It always returns the first element for which the comparator returns false. You can either reverse the range or find the first element that follows the one you want to find.
The comparator must not check for equality, use less than.
Also the data shall already be sorted or must at least be partitioned according to the comparator.
cf. https://www.cplusplus.com/reference/algorithm/lower_bound/

lower_bound() in C++

From reading from the Internet, I understand that The lower_bound() method in C++ is used to return an iterator pointing to the first element in the range [first, last) which has a value not less than value. This means that the function returns the index of the next smallest number just greater than that number.
So, for the given code below I understood that the output is 3. But, as there is repetition of 6. How can I get the index of last 6 using lower_bound(). I can implement my own binary_search() for that, but I want to know how to do it by lower_bound().
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <vector>
using namespace std;
int main ()
{
int array[] = {5,6,7,7,6,5,5,6};
vector<int> v(array,array+8); // 5 6 7 7 6 5 5 6
sort (v.begin(), v.end()); // 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7
vector<int>::iterator lower,upper;
lower = lower_bound (v.begin(), v.end(), 6);
upper = upper_bound (v.begin(), v.end(), 6);
cout << "lower_bound for 6 at position " << (lower- v.begin()) << '\n';
return 0;
}
Use pair of lower_bound and upper_bound. Or one equal_range -- that would be more optimal.
Both upper_bound and high part of equal_range would be past the last "6". The same as end is not last, it is past the last.
You can use reverse iterators into the vector, but then to fulfill the ordering requirement for std::lower_bound you need to inverse the comparison, so you need to use std::greater instead of the default std::less. This however also means that now you are not really looking for a lower bound, but for an upper bound with respect to that comparison function, so:
auto upper = std::upper_bound(v.rbegin(), v.rend(), 6, std::greater{});
If the array is sorted, iterating between lower_bound and upper_bound you get all elements which equal your pivot point:
lower = lower_bound(v.begin(), v.end(), 6);
upper = upper_bound(v.begin(), v.end(), 6);
for (auto it = lower; it != upper; it++) {
assert(6 == *it);
}
The question you are asking, i.e. what is the index of the last 6, doesn't have a corresponding function in the standard library because is ill-defined in the case when the range doesn't contain any 6. In all other cases since you have a random access container you can get an iterator to the last 6 by removing one from upper_bound (upper - 1 in your code), in the same way you get the last index of an array by removing 1 from length.
However I suggest you avoid relying on the position of the last element equal when you design your algorithm. Also note that if you need both lower and upper bound you can get both at the same time with equal_range, which may even perform better because it may be optimised to only traverse the data structure once:
std::tie(lower,upper) = equal_range(v.begin(), v.end(), 6);
for (auto it = lower; it != upper; it++) {
assert(6 == *it);
}
You can use lower_bound again, updating the begin and the value:
auto lower = std::lower_bound (v.cbegin(), v.cend(), 6);
auto upper = std::lower_bound (lower, v.cend(), 6 + 1);
std::cout << "Number of values found: " << std::distance(lower, upper) << '\n';

Erase-remove segfaults, but erasing in loop works [duplicate]

Let's say I have std::vector<std::pair<int,Direction>>.
I am trying to use erase-remove_if idiom to remove pairs from the vector.
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool { return stopPoint.first == 4; }));
I want to delete all pairs that have .first value set to 4.
In my example I have pairs:
- 4, Up
- 4, Down
- 2, Up
- 6, Up
However, after I execute erase-remove_if, I am left with:
- 2, Up
- 6, Up
- 6, Up
What am I doing wrong here?
The correct code is:
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool
{ return stopPoint.first == 4; }),
stopPoints.end());
You need to remove the range starting from the iterator returned from std::remove_if to the end of the vector, not only a single element.
"Why?"
std::remove_if swaps elements inside the vector in order to put all elements that do not match the predicate towards the beginning of the container. This means that if the predicate (body of the lambda function) returns true, then that element will be placed at the end of the vector.
remove_if then **returns an iterator which points to the first element which matches the predicate **. In other words, an iterator to the first element to be removed.
std::vector::erase erases the range starting from the returned iterator to the end of the vector, such that all elements that match the predicate are removed.
More information: Erase-remove idiom (Wikipedia).
The method std::vector::erase has two overloads:
iterator erase( const_iterator pos );
iterator erase( const_iterator first, const_iterator last );
The first one only remove the element at pos while the second one remove the range [first, last).
Since you forget the last iterator in your call, the first version is chosen by overload resolution, and you only remove the first pair shifted to the end by std::remove_if. You need to do this:
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool {
return stopPoint.first == 4;
}),
stopPoints.end());
The erase-remove idiom works as follow. Let say you have a vector {2, 4, 3, 6, 4} and you want to remove the 4:
std::vector<int> vec{2, 4, 3, 6, 4};
auto it = std::remove(vec.begin(), vec.end(), 4);
Will transform the vector into {2, 3, 6, A, B} by putting the "removed" values at the end (the values A and B at the end are unspecified (as if the value were moved), which is why you got 6 in your example) and return an iterator to A (the first of the "removed" value).
If you do:
vec.erase(it)
...the first overload of std::vector::erase is chosen and you only remove the value at it, which is the A and get {2, 3, 6, B}.
By adding the second argument:
vec.erase(it, vec.end())
...the second overload is chosen, and you erase value between it and vec.end(), so both A and B are erased.
I know that at the time this question was asked there was no C++20, so just adding answer for completeness & up-to-date answer for this question,
C++20 has now much cleaner & less verbose pattern, using std::erase_if.
See generic code example:
#include <vector>
int main()
{
std::vector<char> cnt(10);
std::iota(cnt.begin(), cnt.end(), '0');
auto erased = std::erase_if(cnt, [](char x) { return (x - '0') % 2 == 0; });
std::cout << erased << " even numbers were erased.\n";
}
Specific question code snippet:
std::erase_if(stopPoints, [&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool { return stopPoint.first == 4; });
see complete details here:
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/vector/erase2

Using erase-remove_if idiom

Let's say I have std::vector<std::pair<int,Direction>>.
I am trying to use erase-remove_if idiom to remove pairs from the vector.
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool { return stopPoint.first == 4; }));
I want to delete all pairs that have .first value set to 4.
In my example I have pairs:
- 4, Up
- 4, Down
- 2, Up
- 6, Up
However, after I execute erase-remove_if, I am left with:
- 2, Up
- 6, Up
- 6, Up
What am I doing wrong here?
The correct code is:
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool
{ return stopPoint.first == 4; }),
stopPoints.end());
You need to remove the range starting from the iterator returned from std::remove_if to the end of the vector, not only a single element.
"Why?"
std::remove_if swaps elements inside the vector in order to put all elements that do not match the predicate towards the beginning of the container. This means that if the predicate (body of the lambda function) returns true, then that element will be placed at the end of the vector.
remove_if then **returns an iterator which points to the first element which matches the predicate **. In other words, an iterator to the first element to be removed.
std::vector::erase erases the range starting from the returned iterator to the end of the vector, such that all elements that match the predicate are removed.
More information: Erase-remove idiom (Wikipedia).
The method std::vector::erase has two overloads:
iterator erase( const_iterator pos );
iterator erase( const_iterator first, const_iterator last );
The first one only remove the element at pos while the second one remove the range [first, last).
Since you forget the last iterator in your call, the first version is chosen by overload resolution, and you only remove the first pair shifted to the end by std::remove_if. You need to do this:
stopPoints.erase(std::remove_if(stopPoints.begin(),
stopPoints.end(),
[&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool {
return stopPoint.first == 4;
}),
stopPoints.end());
The erase-remove idiom works as follow. Let say you have a vector {2, 4, 3, 6, 4} and you want to remove the 4:
std::vector<int> vec{2, 4, 3, 6, 4};
auto it = std::remove(vec.begin(), vec.end(), 4);
Will transform the vector into {2, 3, 6, A, B} by putting the "removed" values at the end (the values A and B at the end are unspecified (as if the value were moved), which is why you got 6 in your example) and return an iterator to A (the first of the "removed" value).
If you do:
vec.erase(it)
...the first overload of std::vector::erase is chosen and you only remove the value at it, which is the A and get {2, 3, 6, B}.
By adding the second argument:
vec.erase(it, vec.end())
...the second overload is chosen, and you erase value between it and vec.end(), so both A and B are erased.
I know that at the time this question was asked there was no C++20, so just adding answer for completeness & up-to-date answer for this question,
C++20 has now much cleaner & less verbose pattern, using std::erase_if.
See generic code example:
#include <vector>
int main()
{
std::vector<char> cnt(10);
std::iota(cnt.begin(), cnt.end(), '0');
auto erased = std::erase_if(cnt, [](char x) { return (x - '0') % 2 == 0; });
std::cout << erased << " even numbers were erased.\n";
}
Specific question code snippet:
std::erase_if(stopPoints, [&](const stopPointPair stopPoint)-> bool { return stopPoint.first == 4; });
see complete details here:
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/container/vector/erase2