std:: set_difference

Copies the elements from the sorted range [ first1 , last1 ) which are not found in the sorted range [ first2 , last2 ) to the range beginning at d_first . The output range is also sorted.

If [ first1 , last1 ) contains m elements that are equivalent to each other and [ first2 , last2 ) contains n elements that are equivalent to them, the final std:: max ( m - n, 0 ) elements will be copied from [ first1 , last1 ) to the output range, preserving order.

If the output range overlaps with [ first1 , last1 ) or [ first2 , last2 ) , the behavior is undefined.

Parameters

Return value

Iterator past the end of the constructed range.

Complexity

Given \(\scriptsize N_1\) N 1 as std:: distance ( first1, last1 ) and \(\scriptsize N_2\) N 2 as std:: distance ( first2, last2 ) :

Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named ExecutionPolicy report errors as follows:

• If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and ExecutionPolicy is one of the standard policies , std::terminate is called. For any other ExecutionPolicy , the behavior is implementation-defined.
• If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

Possible implementation

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt>
OutputIt set_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                        InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (*first1 < *first2)
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (! (*first2 < *first1))
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return d_first;
}

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt set_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                        InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (comp(*first1, *first2))
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (!comp(*first2, *first1))
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return d_first;
}

Example

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <vector>
 
template<typename T>
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::vector<T>& v)
{
    os << '{';
    for (auto n{v.size()}; const auto& e : v)
        os << e << (--n ? ", " : "");
    return os << '}';
}
 
struct Order // a struct with very interesting data
{
    int order_id{};
 
    friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Order& ord)
    {
        return os << ord.order_id;
    }
};
 
int main()
{
    const std::vector<int> v1{1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 9};
    const std::vector<int> v2{2, 5, 7};
    std::vector<int> diff;
 
    std::set_difference(v1.begin(), v1.end(), v2.begin(), v2.end(),
                        std::inserter(diff, diff.begin()));
 
    std::cout << v1 << " ∖ " << v2 << " == " << diff << "\n\n";
 
    // we want to know which orders "cut" between old and new states:
    std::vector<Order> old_orders{{1}, {2}, {5}, {9}};
    std::vector<Order> new_orders{{2}, {5}, {7}};
    std::vector<Order> cut_orders;
 
    std::set_difference(old_orders.begin(), old_orders.end(),
                        new_orders.begin(), new_orders.end(),
                        std::back_inserter(cut_orders),
                        [](auto& a, auto& b) { return a.order_id < b.order_id; });
 
    std::cout << "old orders: " << old_orders << '\n'
              << "new orders: " << new_orders << '\n'
              << "cut orders: " << cut_orders << '\n';
}

{1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 9} ∖ {2, 5, 7} == {1, 5, 5, 9}
 
old orders: {1, 2, 5, 9}
new orders: {2, 5, 7}
cut orders: {1, 9}

Defect reports

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

See also