Custom input iterator - c++

Question

I have a custom read-only data structure that I need to transverse. I would like to create a custom iterator that need to skip certain values.
A simple but equivalent example would be the following. I have a vector of numbers and I want to loop through all skipping the negative values. Normally I would do something like:
vector<int> v;
for (vector<int>::iterator it = v.begin(); it!=v.end(); ++it) {
if (*it > 0) {
dosomething(*it);
}
}
But I would like to do something like:
vector<int> v;
for (vector<int>::my_iterator it = v.my_begin(); it!=v.my_end(); ++it) {
dosomething(*it);
}
What is the right way to achieve this?

Answer 1

This is easily achieved with a boost::filter_iterator, if your data structure already stores a container under the hood. Here's a simple example:
#include <vector>
#include <iostream>
#include <boost/iterator/filter_iterator.hpp>
class X{
typedef std::vector<int> container;
struct Pred{
bool operator()(int i){
return i % 2 == 0;
}
};
public:
typedef boost::filter_iterator<Pred, container::iterator> iterator;
void add(int val){ nums.push_back(val); }
iterator begin(){ return iterator(nums.begin(), nums.end()); }
iterator end(){ return iterator(nums.end(), nums.end()); }
private:
container nums;
};
int main(){
X x;
for(int i=0; i < 10; ++i)
x.add(i);
for(X::iterator it = x.begin(), ite = x.end(); it != ite; ++it)
std::cout << *it << ' ';
}
Live example at Ideone. Output:
0 2 4 6 8

Answer 2

This isn't a very nice solution, but I'll post it anyway. Any attempt to dereference this iterator wrapper will cause it to check the current value and advance the iterator past any negative values. It will be called recur
template<typename InputIterator>
struct nonnegative_iterator : InputIterator {
template<typename Arg>
nonnegative_iterator(Arg i) : InputIterator(i) {
}
typename InputIterator :: reference operator* () {
typename InputIterator :: reference x = InputIterator :: operator*();
if( x < 0) {
++ (*this); // equivalent to this -> operator++ ()
return **this;
} else
return x;
}
};
which can be used like this:
for ( nonnegative_iterator< vector<int>::iterator > it = v.begin(); it!=v.end(); ++it) {
This has some problems, for example I haven't implemented a const method to allow to dereference to value_type. So use at your own risk!

Answer 3

Assuming you don't have control over the interface of vector<int>, e.g. because it is actually std::vector<int>, the first thing you want to do is to change the way you get your custom iterators. That is, instead of writing
for (vector<int>::my_iterator it = v.my_begin(); it != v.my_ned(); ++it)
you would use
for (my_iterator it(my_begin(v)), end(my_end(v)); it != end; ++it)
You can achieve the modified interface for a custom container but this is a bigger fish to fry. Creating your input iterator now essentially amounts to creating a suitable wrapper for the underlying iterator. This could look something like this:
template <typename InIt, Pred>
struct my_iterator {
typedef typename std::iterator_traits<InIt>::value_type value_type;
typedef typename std::iterator_traits<InIt>::difference_type difference_type;
typedef typename std::iterator_traits<InIt>::reference reference;
typedef typename std::iterator_traits<InIt>::pointer pointer;
my_iterator(InIt it, InIt end, Pred pred): it_(it), end_(end), pred_(pred) {}
bool operator== (my_iterator const& other) const { reutrn this->it_ == other.it_; }
bool operator!= (my_iterator const& other) const { return !(*this == other); }
reference operator*() { return *this->it_; }
pointer operator->() { return this->it_; }
my_iterator& operator++() {
this->it_ = std::find_if(this->it_, this->end_, this->pred_);
return *this;
}
my_iterator operator++(int)
{ my_iterator rc(*this); this->operator++(); return rc; }
private:
InIt it_, end_;
Pred pred_;
The my_begin() and my_end() functions would then create a suitable object of this type. One approach to avoid having to write this is to have a look a Boost's iterator adaptors: there should be something suitable over there.