std::span - cppreference.com (original) (raw)
The class template span
describes an object that can refer to a contiguous sequence of objects with the first element of the sequence at position zero. A span
can either have a static extent, in which case the number of elements in the sequence is known at compile-time and encoded in the type, or a dynamic extent.
For a span
s, pointers, iterators, and references to elements of s are invalidated when an operation invalidates a pointer in the range [
s.data(),
s.data() + s.size())
.
Contents
- 1 Template parameters
- 2 Nested types
- 3 Data members
- 4 Member functions
- 5 Non-member functions
- 6 Helper constant
- 7 Helper templates
- 8 Deduction guides
- 9 Notes
- 10 Example
- 11 Defect reports
- 12 See also
[edit] Template parameters
T | - | element type; must be a complete object type that is not an abstract class type |
---|---|---|
Extent | - | the number of elements in the sequence, or std::dynamic_extent if dynamic |
[edit] Nested types
Type | Definition |
---|---|
element_type | T |
value_type | std::remove_cv_t<T> |
size_type | std::size_t |
difference_type | std::ptrdiff_t |
pointer | T* |
const_pointer | const T* |
reference | T& |
const_reference | const T& |
iterator[1] | implementation-defined LegacyRandomAccessIterator, ConstexprIterator, and contiguous_iterator whose value_type is value_type |
const_iterator (since C++23) | std::const_iterator<iterator> |
reverse_iterator | std::reverse_iterator<iterator> |
const_reverse_iterator (since C++23) | std::const_iterator<reverse_iterator> |
- ↑
iterator
is a mutable iterator ifT
is not const-qualified.
All requirements on the iterator types of a Container apply to the iterator
type of span
as well.
[edit] Data members
Member | Description |
---|---|
Extent (public static member constant) | |
pointer data_ | a pointer to the underlying sequence(exposition-only member object*) |
size_type size_ (present only if the extent is dynamic ) | the number of elements(exposition-only member object*) |
[edit] Member functions
(constructor) | constructs a span (public member function) [edit] |
---|---|
operator= | assigns a span (public member function) [edit] |
(destructor)(implicitly declared) | destructs a span (public member function) |
Iterators | |
begincbegin(C++23) | returns an iterator to the beginning (public member function) [edit] |
endcend(C++23) | returns an iterator to the end (public member function) [edit] |
rbegincrbegin(C++23) | returns a reverse iterator to the beginning (public member function) [edit] |
rendcrend(C++23) | returns a reverse iterator to the end (public member function) [edit] |
Element access | |
front | access the first element (public member function) [edit] |
back | access the last element (public member function) [edit] |
at(C++26) | access specified element with bounds checking (public member function) [edit] |
operator[] | access specified element (public member function) [edit] |
data | direct access to the underlying contiguous storage (public member function) [edit] |
Observers | |
size | returns the number of elements (public member function) [edit] |
size_bytes | returns the size of the sequence in bytes (public member function) [edit] |
empty | checks if the sequence is empty (public member function) [edit] |
Subviews | |
first | obtains a subspan consisting of the first N elements of the sequence (public member function) [edit] |
last | obtains a subspan consisting of the last N elements of the sequence (public member function) [edit] |
subspan | obtains a subspan (public member function) [edit] |
[edit] Non-member functions
[edit] Helper constant
[edit] Helper templates
This specialization of ranges::enable_borrowed_range makes span
satisfy borrowed_range.
This specialization of ranges::enable_view makes span
satisfy view.
[edit] Deduction guides
[edit] Notes
Specializations of std::span
are already trivially copyable types in all existing implementations, even before the formal requirement introduced in C++23.
Feature-test macro | Value | Std | Feature |
---|---|---|---|
__cpp_lib_span | 202002L | (C++20) | std::span |
202311L | (C++26) | std::span::at | |
__cpp_lib_span_initializer_list | 202311L | (C++26) | Constructing std::span from a std::initializer_list |
[edit] Example
The example uses std::span
to implement some algorithms on contiguous ranges.
#include #include #include #include template<class T, std::size_t N> [[nodiscard]] constexpr auto slide(std::span<T, N> s, std::size_t offset, std::size_t width) { return s.subspan(offset, offset + width <= s.size() ? width : 0U); } template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> constexpr bool starts_with(std::span<T, N> data, std::span<T, M> prefix) { return data.size() >= prefix.size() && std::equal(prefix.begin(), prefix.end(), data.begin()); } template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> constexpr bool ends_with(std::span<T, N> data, std::span<T, M> suffix) { return data.size() >= suffix.size() && std::equal(data.end() - suffix.size(), data.end(), suffix.end() - suffix.size()); } template<class T, std::size_t N, std::size_t M> constexpr bool contains(std::span<T, N> span, std::span<T, M> sub) { return std::ranges::search(span, sub).begin() != span.end(); } void println(const auto& seq) { for (const auto& elem : seq) std::cout << elem << ' '; std::cout << '\n'; } int main() { constexpr int a[]{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}; constexpr int b[]{8, 7, 6}; constexpr static std::size_t width{6}; for (std::size_t offset{}; ; ++offset) if (auto s = slide(std::span{a}, offset, width); !s.empty()) println(s); else break; static_assert("" && starts_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a, 4}) && starts_with(std::span{a + 1, 4}, std::span{a + 1, 3}) && !starts_with(std::span{a}, std::span{b}) && !starts_with(std::span{a, 8}, std::span{a + 1, 3}) && ends_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a + 6, 3}) && !ends_with(std::span{a}, std::span{a + 6, 2}) && contains(std::span{a}, std::span{a + 1, 4}) && !contains(std::span{a, 8}, std::span{a, 9}) ); }
Output:
0 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 2 3 4 5 6 7 3 4 5 6 7 8
[edit] Defect reports
The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.
DR | Applied to | Behavior as published | Correct behavior |
---|---|---|---|
LWG 3203 | C++20 | it was unclear when the pointers, iterators, andreferences to elements of span are invalidated | made clear |
LWG 3903 | C++20 | the declaration of span's destructor was unnecessary | removed the declaration |
P2325R3 | C++20 | a span of non-zero static extents was not a view | any span is a view |