Can I disable min, max in STL?

Question

Hi, I use one library which is very important and untouchable. The problem is that library declare min, max function, so when I include STL header in project, they conflict. I want to disable min, max function in STL (like #define NOMNMAX) if I could. If I can't, what would be solution?

Important : Sorry, It's not Macro. Two functions are template functions.

like

template<T>
T min(const T& a, const T& b) { a < b ? a : b; }

Thanks, in advance.

Answer 1

The min and max functions are defined in the std namespace, so this code should not compile:

#include <algorithm>

int main() {
    int n = min( 1, 2 );
}

If it does, your Standard Library is non-compliant. Also, your important and untouchable library should be declaring it's functions in a namespace. If it isn't. complain loudly to the vendor.

Edit: As these functions are presumably in a header file, you can touch them. So a hack would be to remove the templates from the header and replace them with:

using std::nin;
using std::max;

though why the writers of the library felt the need to define these templates is anyone's guess.

Answer 2

As both min and max (and every other standard library member) are defined in std namespace, you just mustn't import that namespace, i.e. don't use using namespace std;. You can still use STL, by explicit namespace resultion, eg. std::max, std::cout etc.

Answer 3

I sometimes have problems with something like that as well, because iirc OpenCV #defines its own min/max, as well as i think does windows.h. Usually I help myself by simply

#undef min
#undef max

Neil is right, though, as min is in std:: namespace. For me the problem arises, that with some headers #defining min/max, i can't even use std::min()

Answer 4

I'm guessing your libary defines min/max as macros, so the fact that STL min/min are in a namespace won't help. You could try this:

#define max STL_MAX
#define min STL_MIN
#include <algorithm>
#undef min
#undef max

That way, min and max are translated to something else while algorithm is compiled. Of course this only works if you include algorithm before your library.

Answer 5

If your untouchable library is not in a namespace, you could force the lookup to use global scope, rather than std:

int i = ::min<int>(1,2);

A better solution would be to remove

using namespace std

and get your library in a namespace.

Answer 6

Define NOMINMAX, and you won't get either of these functions.

#define NOMINMAX