C++ By Example: UnderC Learning Edition

Iterators

Containers such as lists and maps do not behave like arrays, so you can't use a for loop to go through the elements in them. Likewise, because these containers are not accessible randomly, you cannot use a simple integer index. You can use iterators to refer to elements of a container.

Iterating through a Container

Each container type has a distinct iterator associated with it. For instance, this is how you declare the iterator for list<int>:

;> list<int>::iterator ili;

You have previously seen the operator :: in two forms: as the global scope operator (where it has one operand) and in the constant ios::app. Each container type has a scope that contains a type name (iterator), and the scope operator (::) allows you to access that ...