std::list::unique

From cppreference.com
< cpplrm; | containerlrm; | list

(1)
void unique();
(until C++20)
size_type unique();
(since C++20)
(2)
template< class BinaryPredicate >
void unique( BinaryPredicate p );
(until C++20)
template< class BinaryPredicate >
size_type unique( BinaryPredicate p );
(since C++20)

Removes all consecutive duplicate elements from the container. Only the first element in each group of equal elements is left. The first version uses operator== to compare the elements, the second version uses the given binary predicate p.

Parameters

p - binary predicate which returns true if the elements should be treated as equal.

The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the following:

bool pred(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b);

The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it.
The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type list<T,Allocator>::const_iterator can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both of them.

Return value

(none)

(until C++20)

The number of elements removed.

(since C++20)

Complexity

Linear in the size of the container

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <list>

int main()
{
  std::list<int> x = {1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2};

  std::cout << "contents before:";
  for (auto val : x)
    std::cout << ' ' << val;
  std::cout << '\n';

  x.unique();
  std::cout << "contents after unique():";
  for (auto val : x)
    std::cout << ' ' << val;
  std::cout << '\n';

  return 0;
}

Output:

contents before: 1 2 2 3 3 2 1 1 2
contents after unique(): 1 2 3 2 1 2

See also

removes consecutive duplicate elements in a range
(function template)