map::difference_type

A signed integer type that can be used to represent the number of elements of a map in a range between elements pointed to by iterators.

typedef allocator_type::difference_type difference_type;

Remarks

The difference_type is the type returned when subtracting or incrementing through iterators of the container. The difference_type is typically used to represent the number of elements in the range [_First, _Last) between the iterators _First and _Last, includes the element pointed to by _First and the range of elements up to, but not including, the element pointed to by _Last.

Note that although difference_type is available for all iterators that satisfy the requirements of an input iterator, which includes the class of bidirectional iterators supported by reversible containers such as set, subtraction between iterators is only supported by random access iterators provided by a random access container such as vector.

Example

// map_diff_type.cpp
// compile with: /EHsc
#include <iostream>
#include <map>
#include <algorithm>

int main( )
{
   using namespace std;
   map <int, int> m1;
   typedef pair <int, int> Int_Pair;

   m1.insert ( Int_Pair ( 2, 20 ) );
   m1.insert ( Int_Pair ( 1, 10 ) );
   m1.insert ( Int_Pair ( 3, 20 ) );
   m1.insert ( Int_Pair ( 2, 30 ) );

   map <int, int>::iterator m1_Iter, m1_bIter, m1_eIter;
   m1_bIter = m1.begin( );
   m1_eIter = m1.end( );

   // Count the number of elements in a map
   map <int, int>::difference_type  df_count = 1;
   m1_Iter = m1.begin( );
   while ( m1_Iter != m1_eIter)
   {
      df_count++;
      m1_Iter++;
   }

   cout << "The number of elements in the map m1 is: " 
        << df_count << "." << endl;
}

The number of elements in the map m1 is: 4.

Requirements

Header: <map>

Namespace: std

See Also

Reference

map Class

Standard Template Library