How to retrieve all keys (or values) from a std::map?

Question

This is one of the possible ways I come out:

struct RetrieveKey
{
    template <typename T>
    typename T::first_type operator()(T keyValuePair) const
    {
        return keyValuePair.first;
    }
};

map<int, int> m;
vector<int> keys;

// Retrieve all keys
transform(m.begin(), m.end(), back_inserter(keys), RetrieveKey());

// Dump all keys
copy(keys.begin(), keys.end(), ostream_iterator<int>(cout, "\n"));

Of course, we can also retrieve all values from the map by defining another functor RetrieveValues.

Is there any other way to achieve this easily? (I'm always wondering why std::map does not include a member function for us to do so.)

Answer 1

Your solution is probably the best general solution.

Answer 2

The SGI STL has an extension called select1st. Too bad it's not in standard STL!

Answer 3

Your solution is fine but you can use an iterator to do it:

std::map<int, int> m;
m.insert(std::pair<int, int>(3, 4));
m.insert(std::pair<int, int>(5, 6));
for(std::map<int, int>::const_iterator it = m.begin(); it != m.end(); it++)
{
 int key = it->first;
 int value = it->second;
 //Do something
}

Answer 4

Also, if you have Boost, use transform_iterator to avoid making a temporary copy of the keys.

Answer 5

You can use the versatile boost::transform_iterator. The transform_iterator allows you to transform the iterated values, for example in our case when you want to deal only with the keys, not the values. See http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_36_0/libs/iterator/doc/transform_iterator.html#example

Answer 6

While your solution should work, it can be difficult to read depending on the skill level of your fellow programers. Additionally, it moves fuctionality away from the call site. Which can make maintenance a little more difficult.

I'm not sure if your goal is to get the keys into a vector or print them to cout so I'm doing both. You may try something like this:

map<int, int> m;
vector<int> v;
for(map<int,int>::iterator it = m.begin(); it != m.end(); ++it) {
  v.push_back(it->first);
  cout << it->first << "\n";
}

Or even simpler, if you are using Boost:

map<int,int> m;
pair<int,int> me; // what a map<int, int> is made of
vector<int> v;
BOOST_FOREACH(me, m) {
  v.push_back(me.first);
  cout << me.first << "\n";
}

Personally, I like the BOOST_FOREACH version because there is less typing and it is very explicit about what it is doing.

Answer 7

I think the BOOST_FOREACH presented above is nice and clean, however, there is another option using BOOST as well.

#include <boost/lambda/lambda.hpp>
#include <boost/lambda/bind.hpp>

std::map<int, int> m;
std::vector<int> keys;

using namespace boost::lambda;

transform(      m.begin(), 
                m.end(), 
                back_inserter(keys), 
                bind( &std::map<int,int>::value_type::first, _1 ) 
          );

copy( keys.begin(), keys.end(), std::ostream_iterator<int>(std::cout, "\n") );

Personally, I don't think this approach is as clean as the BOOST_FOREACH approach in this case, but boost::lambda can be really clean in other cases.

Answer 8

(I'm always wondering why std::map does not include a member function for us to do so.)

Because it can't do it any better than you can do it. If a method's implementation will be no superior to a free function's implementation then in general you should not write a method; you should write a free function.

It's also not immediately clear why it's useful anyway.

Answer 9

The best non-sgi, non-boost STL solution is to extend map::iterator like so:

template<class map_type>
class key_iterator : public map_type::iterator
{
public:
    typedef typename map_type::iterator map_iterator;
    typedef typename map_iterator::value_type::first_type key_type;

    key_iterator(const map_iterator& other) : map_type::iterator(other) {} ;

    key_type& operator *()
    {
        return map_type::iterator::operator*().first;
    }
};

// helpers to create iterators easier:
template<class map_type>
key_iterator<map_type> key_begin(map_type& m)
{
    return key_iterator<map_type>(m.begin());
}
template<class map_type>
key_iterator<map_type> key_end(map_type& m)
{
    return key_iterator<map_type>(m.end());
}

and then use them like so:

        map<string,int> test;
        test["one"] = 1;
        test["two"] = 2;

        vector<string> keys;

//      // method one
//      key_iterator<map<string,int> > kb(test.begin());
//      key_iterator<map<string,int> > ke(test.end());
//      keys.insert(keys.begin(), kb, ke);

//      // method two
//      keys.insert(keys.begin(),
//           key_iterator<map<string,int> >(test.begin()),
//           key_iterator<map<string,int> >(test.end()));

        // method three (with helpers)
        keys.insert(keys.begin(), key_begin(test), key_end(test));

        string one = keys[0];

Answer 10

C++0x has given us a further, excellent solution:

std::vector<int> keys;

std::transform(
    m_Inputs.begin(),
    m_Inputs.end(),
    std::back_inserter(keys),
    [](const std::map<int,int>::value_type &pair){return pair.first;});