C++ iterator behaviour in for vs while loops - c++

Question

I do not understand why iterating through a container with a for loop produces different results than iterating through it with a while loop. The following MWE illustrates this with a vector and a set of 5 integers.
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <set>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
vector<int> v;
set<int> s;
// add integers 0..5 to vector v and set s
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
v.push_back(i);
s.insert(i);
}
cout << "Iterating through vector with for loop.\n";
vector<int>::const_iterator itv;
for (itv = v.begin(); itv != v.end(); itv++) cout << *itv << ' ';
cout << '\n';
cout << "Iterating through set with for loop.\n";
set<int>::const_iterator its;
for (its = s.begin(); its != s.end(); its++) cout << *its << ' ';
cout << '\n';
cout << "Iterating through vector with while loop.\n";
itv = v.begin();
while (itv++ != v.end()) cout << *itv << ' ';
cout << '\n';
cout << "Iterating through set with while loop.\n";
its = s.begin();
while (its++ != s.end()) cout << *its << ' ';
cout << '\n';
}
The above produces:
Iterating through vector with for loop.
0 1 2 3 4
Iterating through set with for loop.
0 1 2 3 4
Iterating through vector with while loop.
1 2 3 4 0
Iterating through set with while loop.
1 2 3 4 5
The for loops work as expected but not the while loops. Since I'm using ++ as a postfix, I don't understand why the while loops behave as they do. Another mystery is why the while loop prints a 5 for set s, since this number was not inserted in s.

Answer 1

Your while loop is not equivalent to the for loop.
The for loop is equivalent to
itv = v.begin();
while(itv != v.end()) {
cout << *itv << ' ';
itv++;
}
Note that the increment happens after the cout. In your while loops, you do the increment in the test, before cout. Even though you use postincrement, the increment takes effect before your loop body is executed.
Write your while loops like I did there and the discrepancy should disappear.

Answer 2

When you iterate using the for loop you increment the iterator only after the body is evaluated. When you iterate using the while loop you increment the iterator after the check but before the body of the loop. Dereferencing the iterator in the last iteration of your while loops causes undefined behavior.

Answer 3

It could be because the compiler evaluates the its++ in the while expression first before evaluating the rest of the expression.

Answer 4

Since I'm using ++ as a postfix, I don't understand why the while loops behave as they do.
That's because first the while predicate is evaluated, and then (if the predicate was true) the body of the while loop. By the time you try to access the value in the body, the iterator was already incremented.

Answer 5

Just a few 'random' style hints, mainly showing algorithm use and modern C++11 features.
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <set>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
int main()
{
const std::vector<int> v { 0,1,2,3,4 };
const std::set<int> s { 0,1,2,3,4 };
for (auto element : v)
std::cout << element << ' ';
std::cout << '\n';
for (auto element : s)
std::cout << element << ' ';
std::cout << '\n';
std::copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
std::cout << '\n';
std::copy(s.begin(), s.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, " "));
std::cout << '\n';
}