iterator Struct

An empty base struct used to ensure that a user-defined iterator class works properly with iterator_traits.

template<class Category, class Type, class Distance = ptrdiff_t
     class Pointer = Type*, class Reference = Type&>
     struct iterator {
         typedef Category iterator_category;
         typedef Type value_type;
         typedef Distance difference_type;
                typedef Distance distance_type;
          typedef Pointer pointer;
          typedef Reference reference;
       };

Remarks

The template struct serves as a base type for all iterators. It defines the member types

  • iterator_category (a synonym for the template parameter Category).

  • value_type (a synonym for the template parameter Type).

  • difference_type (a synonym for the template parameter Distance).

  • distance_type (a synonym for the template parameter Distance)

  • pointer (a synonym for the template parameter Pointer).

  • reference (a synonym for the template parameter Reference).

Note that value_type should not be a constant type even if pointer points at an object of const Type and reference designates an object of const Type.

Example

See iterator_traits for an example of how to declare and use the types in the iterator base class.

Requirements

Header: <iterator>

Namespace: std

See Also

Concepts

<iterator>

Thread Safety in the Standard C++ Library

Standard Template Library