Copy map values to vector in STL

Question

Working my way through Effective STL at the moment. Item 5 suggests that it's usually preferable to use range member functions to their single element counterparts. I currently wish to copy all the values in a map (i.e. - I don't need the keys) to a vector.

What is the cleanest way to do this?

Answer 1

You can't easily use a range here becuase the iterator you get from a map refers to a std::pair, where the iterators you would use to insert into a vector refers to an object of the type stored in the vector, which is (if you are discarding the key) not a pair.

I really don't think it gets much cleaner than the obvious:

#include <map>
#include <vector>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    typedef map <string, int> MapType;
    MapType m; 
    vector <int> v;

    // populate map somehow

    for( MapType::iterator it = m.begin(); it != m.end(); ++it ) {
     v.push_back( it->second );
    }
}

which I would probably re-write as a template function if I was going to use it more than once. Something like:

template <typename M, typename V> 
void MapToVec( const  M & m, V & v ) {
    for( typename M::const_iterator it = m.begin(); it != m.end(); ++it ) {
     v.push_back( it->second );
    }
}

Answer 2

You could probably use transform for that purpose. I would maybe prefer Neils version though, depending on what is more readable.

---

Example by xtofl (see comments):

#include <map>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>

template< typename tPair >
struct second_t {
    typename tPair::second_type operator()( const tPair& p ) const { return     p.second; }
};

template< typename tMap > 
second_t< typename tMap::value_type > second( const tMap& m ) { return second_t<     typename tMap::value_type >(); }


int main() {
    std::map<int,bool> m;
    m[0]=true;
    m[1]=false;
    //...
    std::vector<bool> v;
    std::transform( m.begin(), m.end(), std::back_inserter( v ), second(m) );
    std::transform( m.begin(), m.end(), std::ostream_iterator<bool>( std::cout,     ";" ), second(m) );
}

Very generic, remember to give him credit if you find it useful.

Answer 3

One way is to use functor:

 template <class T1, class T2>
    class CopyMapToVec
    {
    public: 
        CopyMapToVec(std::vector<T2>& aVec): mVec(aVec){}

        bool operator () (const std::pair<T1,T2>& mapVal) const
        {
         mVec.push_back(mapVal.second);
         return true;
        }
    private:
        std::vector<T2>& mVec;
    };


int main()
{
    std::map<std::string, int> myMap;
    myMap["test1"] = 1;
    myMap["test2"] = 2;

    std::vector<int>  myVector;

    //reserve the memory for vector
    myVector.reserve(myMap.size());
    //create the functor
    CopyMapToVec<std::string, int> aConverter(myVector);

    //call the functor
    std::for_each(myMap.begin(), myMap.end(), aConverter);
}

Answer 4

Here is what I would do.
Also I would use a template function to make the construction of select2nd easier.

#include <map>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <memory>
#include <string>

/*
 * A class to extract the second part of a pair
 */   
template<typename T>
struct select2nd
{
    typename T::second_type operator()(T const& value) const
    {return value.second;}
};

/*
 * A utility template function to make the use of select2nd easy.
 * Pass a map and it automatically creates a select2nd that utilizes the
 * value type. This works nicely as the template functions can deduce the
 * template parameters based on the function parameters. 
 */
template<typename T>
select2nd<typename T::value_type> make_select2nd(T const& m)
{
    return select2nd<typename T::value_type>();
}

int main()
{
    std::map<int,std::string>   m;
    std::vector<std::string>    v;

    /*
     * Please note: You must use std::back_inserter()
     *              As transform assumes the second range is as large as the first.
     *              Alternatively you could pre-populate the vector.
     *
     * Use make_select2nd() to make the function look nice.
     * Alternatively you could use:
     *    select2nd<std::map<int,std::string>::value_type>()
     */   
    std::transform(m.begin(),m.end(),
                   std::back_inserter(v),
                   make_select2nd(m)
                  );
}

Answer 5

Using lambdas one can perform the following:

{
       std::map<std::string,int> m;
       std::vector<int> v;
       v.reserve(m.size());
       std::for_each(m.begin(),m.end(),
                    [](const std::map<std::string,int>::value_type& p) 
                    { 
                       v.push_back(p.second);
                    });
}

Answer 6

If you are using the boost librarys, you can use boost::bind to access the second value of the pair as follows:

#include <string>
#include <map>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <boost/bind.hpp>

int main()
{
   typedef std::map<std::string, int> MapT;
   typedef std::vector<int> VecT;
   MapT map;
   VecT vec;

   map["one"] = 1;
   map["two"] = 2;
   map["three"] = 3;
   map["four"] = 4;
   map["five"] = 5;

   std::transform( map.begin(), map.end(),
                   std::back_inserter(vec),
                   boost::bind(&MapT::value_type::second,_1) );
}

This solution is based on a post from Michael Goldshteyn on the boost mailing list.

Answer 7

I thought it should be

std::transform( map.begin(), map.end(), std::back_inserter(vec), boost::bind(&MapT::value_type::first,_1) );