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

[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>
  1. iterator is a mutable iterator if T 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

[edit] See also