std:: lower_bound

Searches for the first element in the partitioned range [ first , last ) which is not ordered before value .

Parameters

Return value

Iterator to the first element of the range [ first , last ) not ordered before value , or last if no such element is found.

Complexity

Given \(\scriptsize N\) N as std:: distance ( first, last ) :

However, if ForwardIt is not a LegacyRandomAccessIterator , the number of iterator increments is linear in \(\scriptsize N\) N . Notably, std::map , std::multimap , std::set , and std::multiset iterators are not random access, and so their member lower_bound functions should be preferred.

Possible implementation

See also the implementations in libstdc++ and libc++ .

template<class ForwardIt, class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type>
ForwardIt lower_bound(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value)
{
    return std::lower_bound(first, last, value, std::less{});
}

template<class ForwardIt, class T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type,
         class Compare>
ForwardIt lower_bound(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, const T& value, Compare comp)
{
    ForwardIt it;
    typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::difference_type count, step;
    count = std::distance(first, last);
 
    while (count > 0)
    {
        it = first;
        step = count / 2;
        std::advance(it, step);
 
        if (comp(*it, value))
        {
            first = ++it;
            count -= step + 1;
        }
        else
            count = step;
    }
 
    return first;
}

Notes

Although std::lower_bound only requires [ first , last ) to be partitioned, this algorithm is usually used in the case where [ first , last ) is sorted, so that the binary search is valid for any value .

Unlike std::binary_search , std::lower_bound does not require operator < or comp to be asymmetric (i.e., a < b and b < a always have different results). In fact, it does not even require value < * iter or comp ( value, * iter ) to be well-formed for any iterator iter in [ first , last ) .

Example

#include <algorithm>
#include <cassert>
#include <complex>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
 
struct PriceInfo { double price; };
 
int main()
{
    const std::vector<int> data{1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6};
 
    for (int i = 0; i < 8; ++i)
    {
        // Search for first element x such that i ≤ x
        auto lower = std::lower_bound(data.begin(), data.end(), i);
 
        std::cout << i << " ≤ ";
        lower != data.end()
            ? std::cout << *lower << " at index " << std::distance(data.begin(), lower)
            : std::cout << "not found";
        std::cout << '\n';
    }
 
    std::vector<PriceInfo> prices{{100.0}, {101.5}, {102.5}, {102.5}, {107.3}};
 
    for (const double to_find : {102.5, 110.2})
    {
        auto prc_info = std::lower_bound(prices.begin(), prices.end(), to_find,
            [](const PriceInfo& info, double value)
            {
                return info.price < value;
            });
 
        prc_info != prices.end()
            ? std::cout << prc_info->price << " at index " << prc_info - prices.begin()
            : std::cout << to_find << " not found";
        std::cout << '\n';
    }
 
    using CD = std::complex<double>;
    std::vector<CD> nums{{1, 0}, {2, 2}, {2, 1}, {3, 0}};
    auto cmpz = [](CD x, CD y) { return x.real() < y.real(); };
    #ifdef __cpp_lib_algorithm_default_value_type
        auto it = std::lower_bound(nums.cbegin(), nums.cend(), {2, 0}, cmpz);
    #else
        auto it = std::lower_bound(nums.cbegin(), nums.cend(), CD{2, 0}, cmpz);
    #endif
    assert((*it == CD{2, 2}));
}

0 ≤ 1 at index 0
1 ≤ 1 at index 0
2 ≤ 2 at index 1
3 ≤ 4 at index 2
4 ≤ 4 at index 2
5 ≤ 5 at index 3
6 ≤ 6 at index 5
7 ≤ not found
102.5 at index 2
110.2 not found

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

See also