multiset::begin

Returns an iterator addressing the first element in the multiset.

const_iterator begin( ) const; 
iterator begin( );

Return Value

A bidirectional iterator addressing the first element in the multiset or the location succeeding an empty multiset.

Remark

If the return value of begin is assigned to a const_iterator, the elements in the multiset object cannot be modified. If the return value of begin is assigned to an iterator, the elements in the multiset object can be modified.

Example

// multiset_begin.cpp
// compile with: /EHsc
#include <set>
#include <iostream>

int main( )
{
   using namespace std;   
   multiset <int> ms1;
   multiset <int>::iterator ms1_Iter;
   multiset <int>::const_iterator ms1_cIter;
   
   ms1.insert( 1 );
   ms1.insert( 2 );
   ms1.insert( 3 );

   ms1_Iter = ms1.begin( );
   cout << "The first element of ms1 is " << *ms1_Iter << endl;

   ms1_Iter = ms1.begin( );
   ms1.erase( ms1_Iter );

   // The following 2 lines would err as the iterator is const
   // ms1_cIter = ms1.begin( );
   // ms1.erase( ms1_cIter );

   ms1_cIter = ms1.begin( );
   cout << "The first element of ms1 is now " << *ms1_cIter << endl;
}

The first element of ms1 is 1
The first element of ms1 is now 2

Requirements

Header: <set>

Namespace: std

See Also

Concepts

multiset Class

multiset Members

Standard Template Library