std:: set

std::set is an associative container that contains a sorted set of unique objects of type Key . Sorting is done using the key comparison function Compare . Search, removal, and insertion operations have logarithmic complexity. Sets are usually implemented as Red–black trees .

Everywhere the standard library uses the Compare requirements, uniqueness is determined by using the equivalence relation. In imprecise terms, two objects a and b are considered equivalent if neither compares less than the other: ! comp ( a, b ) && ! comp ( b, a ) .

std::set meets the requirements of Container , AllocatorAwareContainer , AssociativeContainer and ReversibleContainer .

Template parameters

Member types

Member functions

Non-member functions

Notes

The member types iterator and const_iterator may be aliases to the same type. This means defining a pair of function overloads using the two types as parameter types may violate the One Definition Rule . Since iterator is convertible to const_iterator , a single function with a const_iterator as parameter type will work instead.

Example

#include <algorithm>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <set>
#include <string_view>
 
template<typename T>
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& out, const std::set<T>& set)
{
    if (set.empty())
        return out << "{}";
    out << "{ " << *set.begin();
    std::for_each(std::next(set.begin()), set.end(), [&out](const T& element)
    {
        out << ", " << element;
    });
    return out << " }";
}
 
int main()
{
    std::set<int> set{1, 5, 3};
    std::cout << set << '\n';
 
    set.insert(2);
    std::cout << set << '\n';
 
    set.erase(1);
    std::cout << set << "\n\n";
 
    std::set<int> keys{3, 4};
    for (int key : keys)
    {
        if (set.contains(key))
            std::cout << set << " does contain " << key << '\n';
        else
            std::cout << set << " doesn't contain " << key << '\n';
    }
    std::cout << '\n';
 
    std::string_view word = "element";
    std::set<char> characters(word.begin(), word.end());
    std::cout << "There are " << characters.size() << " unique characters in "
              << std::quoted(word) << ":\n" << characters << '\n';
}

{ 1, 3, 5 }
{ 1, 2, 3, 5 }
{ 2, 3, 5 }
 
{ 2, 3, 5 } does contain 3
{ 2, 3, 5 } doesn't contain 4
 
There are 5 unique characters in "element":
{ e, l, m, n, t }

Defect reports

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

See also