vector element compare c++ - c++

Question

This program takes a word from text and puts it in a vector; after this it compares every element with the next one.
So I'm trying to compare element of a vector like this:
sort(words.begin(), words.end());
int cc = 1;
int compte = 1;
int i;
//browse the vector
for (i = 0; i <= words.size(); i++) { // comparison
if (words[i] == words[cc]) {
compte = compte + 1;
}
else { // displaying the word with comparison
cout << words[i] << " Repeated : " << compte; printf("\n");
compte = 1; cc = i;
}
}
My problem in the bounds: i+1 may exceed the vector borders. How to I handle this case?

Answer 1

You need to pay more attention on the initial conditions and bounds when you do iteration and comparing at the same time. It is usually a good idea to execute your code using pen and paper at first.
sort(words.begin(), words.end()); // make sure !words.empty()
int cc = 0; // index of the word we need to compare.
int compte = 1; // counting of the number of occurrence.
for( size_t i = 1; i < words.size(); ++i ){
// since you already count the first word, now we are at i=1
if( words[i] == words[cc] ){
compte += 1;
}else{
// words[i] is going to be different from words[cc].
cout << words[cc] << " Repeated : " << compte << '\n';
compte = 1;
cc = i;
}
}
// to output the last word with its repeat
cout << words[cc] << " Repeated : " << compte << '\n';
Just for some additional information.
There are better ways to count the number of word appearances.
For example, one can use unordered_map<string,int>.
Hope this help.

Answer 2

C++ uses zero-based indexing, e.g., an array of length 5 has indices: {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. This means that index 5 is outside of the range.
Similarly, given an array arr of characters:
char arr[] = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'};
The loop for (int i = 0; i <= std::size(arr); ++i) { arr[i]; } will cause a read from outside of the range when i is equal to the length of arr, which causes undefined behaviour. To avoid this the loop must stop before i is equal to the length of the array.
for (std::size_t i = 0; i < std::size(arr); ++i) { arr[i]; }
Also note the use of std::size_t as type of the index counter. This is common practice in C++.
Now, let's finish with an example of how much easier this can be done using the standard library.
std::sort(std::begin(words), std::end(words));
std::map<std::string, std::size_t> counts;
std::for_each(std::begin(words), std::end(words), [&] (const auto& w) { ++counts[w]; });
Output using:
for (auto&& [word, count] : counts) {
std::cout << word << ": " << count << std::endl;
}

Answer 3

My problem in the bounds: i+1 may exceed the vector borders. How to I
handle this case?
In modern C++ coding, the problem of an index going past vector bounds can be avoided. Use the STL containers and avoid using indices. With a little effort devoted to learning how to use containers this way, you should never see these kind of 'off-by-one' errors again! As a benefit, the code becomes more easily understood and maintained.
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <map>
using namespace std;
int main() {
// a test vector of words
vector< string > words { "alpha", "gamma", "beta", "gamma" };
// map unique words to their appearance count
map< string, int > mapwordcount;
// loop over words
for( auto& w : words )
{
// insert word into map
auto ret = mapwordcount.insert( pair<string,int>( w, 1 ) );
if( ! ret.second )
{
// word already present
// so increment count
ret.first->second++;
}
}
// loop over map
for( auto& m : mapwordcount )
{
cout << "word '" << m.first << "' appears " << m.second << " times\n";
}
return 0;
}
Produces
word 'alpha' appears 1 times
word 'beta' appears 1 times
word 'gamma' appears 2 times
https://ideone.com/L9VZt6
If some book or person is teaching you to write code full of
for (i = 0; i < ...
then you should run away quickly and learn modern coding elsewhere.

Answer 4

Same repeated words counting using some C++ STL goodies via multiset and upper_bound:
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
#include <set>
int main()
{
std::vector<std::string> words{ "one", "two", "three", "two", "one" };
std::multiset<std::string> ms(words.begin(), words.end());
for (auto it = ms.begin(), end = ms.end(); it != end; it = ms.upper_bound(*it))
std::cout << *it << " is repeated: " << ms.count(*it) << " times" << std::endl;
return 0;
}
https://ideone.com/tPYw4a