std::vector

C++

Language

Headers

Freestanding and hosted implementations

Named requirements

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Diagnostics library

Utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Algorithms library

Iterators library

Numerics library

Input/output library

Localizations library

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

Filesystem library (C++17)

Technical Specifications

Containers library

array (C++11)

vector

deque

forward_list (C++11)

list

set

multiset

map

multimap

unordered_set (C++11)

unordered_multiset (C++11)

unordered_map (C++11)

unordered_multimap (C++11)

stack

queue

priority_queue

span (C++20)

std::vector

Member functions

vector::vector

vector::~vector

vector::operator=

vector::assign

vector::get_allocator

Element access

vector::at

vector::operator[]

vector::front

vector::back

vector::data (C++11)

Iterators

vector::beginvector::cbegin (C++11)

vector::endvector::cend (C++11)

vector::rbeginvector::crbegin (C++11)

vector::rendvector::crend (C++11)

Capacity

vector::empty

vector::size

vector::max_size

vector::reserve

vector::capacity

vector::shrink_to_fit (C++11)

Modifiers

vector::clear

vector::insert

vector::emplace (C++11)

vector::erase

vector::push_back

vector::emplace_back (C++11)

vector::pop_back

vector::resize

vector::swap

Deduction guides(C++17)

Defined in header <vector>
template< class T, class Allocator = std::allocator<T> > class vector;	(1)
namespace pmr { template <class T> using vector = std::vector<T, std::pmr::polymorphic_allocator<T>>; }	(2)	(since C++17)

1) std::vector is a sequence container that encapsulates dynamic size arrays.

2) std::pmr::vector is an alias template that uses a polymorphic allocator

The elements are stored contiguously, which means that elements can be accessed not only through iterators, but also using offsets to regular pointers to elements. This means that a pointer to an element of a vector may be passed to any function that expects a pointer to an element of an array.

(since C++03)

The storage of the vector is handled automatically, being expanded and contracted as needed. Vectors usually occupy more space than static arrays, because more memory is allocated to handle future growth. This way a vector does not need to reallocate each time an element is inserted, but only when the additional memory is exhausted. The total amount of allocated memory can be queried using capacity() function. Extra memory can be returned to the system via a call to shrink_to_fit(). (since C++11)

Reallocations are usually costly operations in terms of performance. The reserve() function can be used to eliminate reallocations if the number of elements is known beforehand.

The complexity (efficiency) of common operations on vectors is as follows:

• Random access - constant O(1)
• Insertion or removal of elements at the end - amortized constant O(1)
• Insertion or removal of elements - linear in the distance to the end of the vector O(n)

std::vector (for T other than bool) meets the requirements of Container, AllocatorAwareContainer, SequenceContainer , ContiguousContainer (since C++17) and ReversibleContainer.

Template parameters

T	-	The type of the elements. T must meet the requirements of CopyAssignable and CopyConstructible. (until C++11) The requirements that are imposed on the elements depend on the actual operations performed on the container. Generally, it is required that element type is a complete type and meets the requirements of Erasable, but many member functions impose stricter requirements. (since C++11) (until C++17) The requirements that are imposed on the elements depend on the actual operations performed on the container. Generally, it is required that element type meets the requirements of Erasable, but many member functions impose stricter requirements. This container (but not its members) can be instantiated with an incomplete element type if the allocator satisfies the allocator completeness requirements. (since C++17)
Allocator	-	An allocator that is used to acquire/release memory and to construct/destroy the elements in that memory. The type must meet the requirements of Allocator. The behavior is undefined if Allocator::value_type is not the same as T.

Specializations

The standard library provides a specialization of std::vector for the type bool, which may be optimized for space efficiency.

vector<bool>

space-efficient dynamic bitset (class template specialization)

Iterator invalidation

There are still a few inaccuracies in this section. Refer to individual member function pages for more detail.

Operations	Invalidated
All read only operations, swap, std::swap	Never
clear, operator=, assign	Always
reserve, shrink_to_fit	If the vector changed capacity, all of them. If not, none.
erase	Erased elements + all elements after them (including end())
push_back, emplace_back	If the vector changed capacity, all of them. If not, only end().
insert, emplace, resize	If the vector changed capacity, all of them. If not, only those after the insertion point.
pop_back	The element erased and end().

Member types

Member type	Definition
value_type	T
allocator_type	Allocator
size_type	Unsigned integer type (usually std::size_t)
difference_type	Signed integer type (usually std::ptrdiff_t)
reference	Allocator::reference (until C++11) value_type& (since C++11)
const_reference	Allocator::const_reference (until C++11) const value_type& (since C++11)
pointer	Allocator::pointer (until C++11) std::allocator_traits<Allocator>::pointer (since C++11)
const_pointer	Allocator::const_pointer (until C++11) std::allocator_traits<Allocator>::const_pointer (since C++11)
iterator	RandomAccessIterator
const_iterator	Constant RandomAccessIterator
reverse_iterator	std::reverse_iterator<iterator>
const_reverse_iterator	std::reverse_iterator<const_iterator>

Member functions

(constructor)	constructs the vector (public member function)
(destructor)	destructs the vector (public member function)
operator=	assigns values to the container (public member function)
assign	assigns values to the container (public member function)
get_allocator	returns the associated allocator (public member function)
Element access
at	access specified element with bounds checking (public member function)
operator[]	access specified element (public member function)
front	access the first element (public member function)
back	access the last element (public member function)
data (C++11)	direct access to the underlying array (public member function)
Iterators
begin cbegin	returns an iterator to the beginning (public member function)
end cend	returns an iterator to the end (public member function)
rbegin crbegin	returns a reverse iterator to the beginning (public member function)
rend crend	returns a reverse iterator to the end (public member function)
Capacity
empty	checks whether the container is empty (public member function)
size	returns the number of elements (public member function)
max_size	returns the maximum possible number of elements (public member function)
reserve	reserves storage (public member function)
capacity	returns the number of elements that can be held in currently allocated storage (public member function)
shrink_to_fit (C++11)	reduces memory usage by freeing unused memory (public member function)
Modifiers
clear	clears the contents (public member function)
insert	inserts elements (public member function)
emplace (C++11)	constructs element in-place (public member function)
erase	erases elements (public member function)
push_back	adds an element to the end (public member function)
emplace_back (C++11)	constructs an element in-place at the end (public member function)
pop_back	removes the last element (public member function)
resize	changes the number of elements stored (public member function)
swap	swaps the contents (public member function)

Non-member functions

operator==operator!=operator<operator<=operator>operator>=	lexicographically compares the values in the vector (function template)
std::swap(std::vector)	specializes the std::swap algorithm (function template)

Example

Run this code

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>

int main()
{
    // Create a vector containing integers
    std::vector<int> v = {7, 5, 16, 8};

    // Add two more integers to vector
    v.push_back(25);
    v.push_back(13);

    // Iterate and print values of vector
    for(int n : v) {
        std::cout << n << '\n';
    }
}

Output:

7
5
16
8
25
13