std::ranges::search_n

 

C++

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Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Execution support library (C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Algorithm library

Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
Execution policies (C++17)
is_execution_policy (C++17)   execution::seqexecution::parexecution::par_unseqexecution::unseq (C++17)    (C++17)(C++17)(C++20)	execution::sequenced_policyexecution::parallel_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced_policyexecution::parallel_unsequenced (C++17)(C++17)(C++17)(C++20)
Non-modifying sequence operations Batch operations for_each for_each_n (C++17) Search operations all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)                (C++11)(C++11) countcount_if mismatch equal findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n Modifying sequence operations Copy operations copycopy_if (C++11) copy_backward copy_n (C++11) move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) Swap operations swap iter_swap swap_ranges Transformation operations replacereplace_if transform replace_copyreplace_copy_if Generation operations fill fill_n generate generate_n Removing operations removeremove_if unique remove_copyremove_copy_if unique_copy Order-changing operations reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffleshuffle (until C++17)(C++11) shift_leftshift_right (C++20)(C++20) Sampling operations sample (C++17)	Sorting and related operations Partitioning operations partition partition_copy (C++11)   stable_partition is_partitioned (C++11) partition_point (C++11) Sorting operations sort stable_sort partial_sort partial_sort_copy is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) nth_element Binary search operations (on partitioned ranges) lower_bound upper_bound equal_range binary_search Set operations (on sorted ranges) includes set_union set_intersection set_difference set_symmetric_difference Merge operations (on sorted ranges) merge inplace_merge Heap operations push_heap pop_heap make_heap sort_heap is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11) Minimum/maximum operations max min minmax (C++11) clamp (C++17) max_element min_element minmax_element (C++11) Lexicographical comparison operations lexicographical_compare lexicographical_compare_three_way (C++20) Permutation operations next_permutation prev_permutation is_permutation (C++11) C library qsort bsearch
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) inner_product adjacent_difference    accumulate reduce (C++17) transform_reduce (C++17)	partial_sum inclusive_scan (C++17)    exclusive_scan (C++17) transform_inclusive_scan (C++17) transform_exclusive_scan (C++17)
Operations on uninitialized memory
uninitialized_copy uninitialized_move (C++17)    uninitialized_fill uninitialized_copy_n (C++11) uninitialized_move_n (C++17) uninitialized_fill_n	destroy (C++17) destroy_n (C++17) destroy_at (C++17) construct_at (C++20)       uninitialized_default_construct (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct (C++17) uninitialized_default_construct_n (C++17) uninitialized_value_construct_n (C++17)

 

Constrained algorithms

All names in this menu belong to namespace std::ranges

Non-modifying sequence operations

all_ofany_ofnone_of for_each for_each_n    countcount_if adjacent_find mismatch equal lexicographical_compare    containscontains_subrange (C++23)(C++23) findfind_iffind_if_not find_lastfind_last_iffind_last_if_not (C++23)(C++23)(C++23)   find_end find_first_of search search_n starts_with (C++23) ends_with (C++23)

Modifying sequence operations

copycopy_if copy_n copy_backward    move move_backward shift_leftshift_right (C++23)(C++23)   fill fill_n generate generate_n    transform swap_ranges    shuffle sample removeremove_if replacereplace_if reverse rotate remove_copyremove_copy_if    unique replace_copyreplace_copy_if reverse_copy rotate_copy unique_copy

Partitioning operations

is_partitioned    partition_point    partition    partition_copy    stable_partition

Sorting operations

is_sorted is_sorted_until     sort stable_sort         partial_sort       nth_element partial_sort_copy

Binary search operations (on sorted ranges)

lower_bound         upper_bound         binary_search      equal_range

Set operations (on sorted ranges)

merge inplace_merge       set_difference set_intersection    set_union          includes set_symmetric_difference

Heap operations

is_heap is_heap_until       make_heap           sort_heap push_heap pop_heap

Minimum/maximum operations

max max_element         min min_element         minmax minmax_element     clamp

Permutation operations

is_permutation      next_permutation    prev_permutation

Fold operations

fold_left (C++23) fold_left_first (C++23)   fold_right (C++23) fold_right_last (C++23)   fold_left_with_iter (C++23) fold_left_first_with_iter (C++23)

Numeric operations iota (C++23)             Random number generation generate_random (C++26)

Operations on uninitialized storage

construct_at    destroy destroy_n destroy_at uninitialized_copy    uninitialized_move uninitialized_fill uninitialized_copy_n    uninitialized_move_n uninitialized_fill_n uninitialized_default_construct uninitialized_default_construct_n uninitialized_value_construct uninitialized_value_construct_n

Return types

in_fun_result in_in_result in_found_result    in_out_result in_in_out_result    in_out_out_result    min_max_result out_value_result (C++23) in_value_result (C++23)

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
Call signature
	(1)
template< std::forward_iterator I, std::sentinel_for<I> S, class T,           class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity > requires std::indirectly_comparable<I, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::subrange<I>     search_n( I first, S last, std::iter_difference_t<I> count,               const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {} );			(since C++20) (until C++26)
template< std::forward_iterator I, std::sentinel_for<I> S,           class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity,           class T = std::projected_value_t<I, Proj> > requires std::indirectly_comparable<I, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::subrange<I>     search_n( I first, S last, std::iter_difference_t<I> count,               const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {} );			(since C++26)
		(2)
template< ranges::forward_range R, class T,           class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity > requires std::indirectly_comparable     <ranges::iterator_t<R>, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::borrowed_subrange_t<R>     search_n( R&& r, ranges::range_difference_t<R> count,               const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {} );				(since C++20) (until C++26)
template< ranges::forward_range R,           class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity,           class T = std::projected_value_t<ranges::iterator_t<R>, Proj> > requires std::indirectly_comparable     <ranges::iterator_t<R>, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::borrowed_subrange_t<R>     search_n( R&& r, ranges::range_difference_t<R> count,               const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {} );				(since C++26)

1) Searches the range [first, last) for the first sequence of count elements whose projected values are each equal to the given value according to the binary predicate pred.

2) Same as (1), but uses r as the source range, as if using ranges::begin(r) as first and ranges::end(r) as last.

The function-like entities described on this page are niebloids, that is:

• Explicit template argument lists cannot be specified when calling any of them.
• None of them are visible to argument-dependent lookup.
• When any of them are found by normal unqualified lookup as the name to the left of the function-call operator, argument-dependent lookup is inhibited.

In practice, they may be implemented as function objects, or with special compiler extensions.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to examine (aka haystack)
r	-	the range of elements to examine (aka haystack)
count	-	the length of the sequence to search for
value	-	the value to search for (aka needle)
pred	-	the binary predicate that compares the projected elements with value
proj	-	the projection to apply to the elements of the range to examine

Return value

1) Returns std::ranges::subrange object that contains a pair of iterators in the range [first, last) that designate the found subsequence.

If no such subsequence is found, returns std::ranges::subrange{last, last}.

If count <= 0, returns std::ranges::subrange{first, first}.

2) Same as (1) but the return type is ranges::borrowed_subrange_t<R>.

Complexity

Linear: at most ranges::distance(first, last) applications of the predicate and the projection.

Notes

An implementation can improve efficiency of the search in average if the iterators model std::random_access_iterator.

Feature-test macro	Value	Std	Feature
__cpp_lib_algorithm_default_value_type	202403	(C++26)	List-initialization for algorithms

Possible implementation

struct search_n_fn { template<std::forward_iterator I, std::sentinel_for<I> S, class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity, class T = std::projected_value_t<I, Proj>> requires std::indirectly_comparable<I, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::subrange<I> operator()(I first, S last, std::iter_difference_t<I> count, const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {}) const { if (count <= 0) return {first, first}; for (; first != last; ++first) if (std::invoke(pred, std::invoke(proj, *first), value)) { I start = first; std::iter_difference_t<I> n{1}; for (;;) { if (n++ == count) return {start, std::next(first)}; // found if (++first == last) return {first, first}; // not found if (!std::invoke(pred, std::invoke(proj, *first), value)) break; // not equ to value } } return {first, first}; }   template<ranges::forward_range R, class Pred = ranges::equal_to, class Proj = std::identity, class T = std::projected_value_t<ranges::iterator_t<R>, Proj>> requires std::indirectly_comparable<ranges::iterator_t<R>, const T*, Pred, Proj> constexpr ranges::borrowed_subrange_t<R> operator()(R&& r, ranges::range_difference_t<R> count, const T& value, Pred pred = {}, Proj proj = {}) const { return (*this)(ranges::begin(r), ranges::end(r), std::move(count), value, std::move(pred), std::move(proj)); } };   inline constexpr search_n_fn search_n {};

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <cassert>
#include <complex>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
 
int main()
{
    namespace ranges = std::ranges;
 
    static constexpr auto nums = {1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1};
    constexpr int count{3};
    constexpr int value{2};
    typedef int count_t, value_t;
 
    constexpr auto result1 = ranges::search_n
    (
        nums.begin(), nums.end(), count, value
    );
    static_assert // found
    (
        result1.size() == count &&
        std::distance(nums.begin(), result1.begin()) == 6 &&
        std::distance(nums.begin(), result1.end()) == 9
    );
 
    constexpr auto result2 = ranges::search_n(nums, count, value);
    static_assert // found
    (
        result2.size() == count &&
        std::distance(nums.begin(), result2.begin()) == 6 &&
        std::distance(nums.begin(), result2.end()) == 9
    );
 
    constexpr auto result3 = ranges::search_n(nums, count, value_t{5});
    static_assert // not found
    (
        result3.size() == 0 &&
        result3.begin() == result3.end() &&
        result3.end() == nums.end()
    );
 
    constexpr auto result4 = ranges::search_n(nums, count_t{0}, value_t{1});
    static_assert // not found
    (
        result4.size() == 0 &&
        result4.begin() == result4.end() &&
        result4.end() == nums.begin()
    );
 
    constexpr char symbol{'B'};
    auto to_ascii = [](const int z) -> char { return 'A' + z - 1; };
    auto is_equ = [](const char x, const char y) { return x == y; };
 
    std::cout << "Find a sub-sequence " << std::string(count, symbol) << " in the ";
    std::ranges::transform(nums, std::ostream_iterator<char>(std::cout, ""), to_ascii);
    std::cout << '\n';
 
    auto result5 = ranges::search_n(nums, count, symbol, is_equ, to_ascii);
    if (not result5.empty())
        std::cout << "Found at position "
                  << ranges::distance(nums.begin(), result5.begin()) << '\n';
 
    std::vector<std::complex<double>> nums2{{4, 2}, {4, 2}, {1, 3}};
    #ifdef __cpp_lib_algorithm_default_value_type
        auto it = ranges::search_n(nums2, 2, {4, 2});
    #else
        auto it = ranges::search_n(nums2, 2, std::complex<double>{4, 2});
    #endif
    assert(it.size() == 2);
}

Output:

Find a sub-sequence BBB in the ABBCDABBBA
Found at position 6

See also

ranges::adjacent_find (C++20)	finds the first two adjacent items that are equal (or satisfy a given predicate) (niebloid)
ranges::findranges::find_ifranges::find_if_not (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)	finds the first element satisfying specific criteria (niebloid)
ranges::find_end (C++20)	finds the last sequence of elements in a certain range (niebloid)
ranges::find_first_of (C++20)	searches for any one of a set of elements (niebloid)
ranges::includes (C++20)	returns true if one sequence is a subsequence of another (niebloid)
ranges::mismatch (C++20)	finds the first position where two ranges differ (niebloid)
ranges::search (C++20)	searches for the first occurrence of a range of elements (niebloid)
search_n	searches for the first occurrence of a number consecutive copies of an element in a range (function template)