NAME¶

std::equal - std::equal

Synopsis¶

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2 >

bool equal( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, (1) (constexpr since C++20)

InputIt2 first2 );
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class
ForwardIt2 >

bool equal( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, (2) (since C++17)
ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,

ForwardIt2 first2 );
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class
BinaryPred >
(3) (constexpr since C++20)
bool equal( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,

InputIt2 first2, BinaryPred p );
template< class ExecutionPolicy,

class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class
BinaryPred > (4) (since C++17)
bool equal( ExecutionPolicy&& policy,
ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,

ForwardIt2 first2, BinaryPred p );
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2 >
(since C++14)
bool equal( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, (5) (constexpr since C++20)

InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2 );
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class
ForwardIt2 >

bool equal( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, (6) (since C++17)
ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,

ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2 );
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class
BinaryPred >
(since C++14)
bool equal( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, (7) (constexpr since C++20)

InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, BinaryPred
p );
template< class ExecutionPolicy,

class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class
BinaryPred >
bool equal( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, (8) (since C++17)
ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,

ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2,
BinaryPred p );

Checks whether [first1, last1) and a range starting from first2 are equal:

* For overloads (1-4), the second range has std::distance(first1, last1) elements.
* For overloads (5-8), the second range is [first2, last2).
1,5) Elements are compared using operator==.
3,7) Elements are compared using the given binary predicate p.
2,4,6,8) Same as (1,3,5,7), but executed according to policy.
These overloads participate in overload resolution only if

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true. (until
C++20)
std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true. (since
C++20)

Parameters¶

first1, last1 - the first range of the elements to compare
first2, last2 - the second range of the elements to compare
policy - the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
binary predicate which returns true if the elements should be
treated as equal.

The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the
following:

bool pred(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b);

p - While the signature does not need to have const &, the function must
not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all
values of type (possibly const) Type1 and Type2 regardless of value
category (thus, Type1 & is not allowed
, nor is Type1 unless for Type1 a move is equivalent to a copy
(since C++11)).
The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that objects of types
InputIt1 and InputIt2 can be dereferenced and then implicitly
converted to Type1 and Type2 respectively.

Type requirements¶

-
InputIt1, InputIt2 must meet the requirements of LegacyInputIterator.
-
ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2 must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
-
BinaryPred must meet the requirements of BinaryPredicate.

Return value¶

1-4) If each corresponding elements in the two ranges are equal, returns true.
Otherwise returns false.
5-8) If std::distance(first1, last1) and std::distance(first2, last2) are equal, and
each corresponding elements in the two ranges are equal, returns true. Otherwise
returns false.

Complexity¶

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

1) At most \(\scriptsize N_1\)N
1 comparisons using operator==.
2) \(\scriptsize O(N_1)\)O(N
1) comparisons using operator==.
3) At most \(\scriptsize N_1\)N
1 applications of the predicate p.
4) \(\scriptsize O(N_1)\)O(N
1) applications of the predicate p.
5-8) If InputIt1 and InputIt2 are both LegacyRandomAccessIterator, and last1 -
first1 != last2 - first2 is true, no comparison will be made.
Otherwise, given \(\scriptsize N\)N as \(\scriptsize \min(N_1,N_2)\)min(N
1,N
2):
5) At most \(\scriptsize N\)N comparisons using operator==.
6) \(\scriptsize O(N)\)O(N) comparisons using operator==.
7) At most \(\scriptsize N\)N applications of the predicate p.
8) \(\scriptsize O(N)\)O(N) applications of the predicate p.

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¶

equal (1)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2)
{
for (; first1 != last1; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!(*first1 == *first2))
return false;

return true;
}
equal (3)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class BinaryPred>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
InputIt2 first2, BinaryPred p)
{
for (; first1 != last1; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!p(*first1, *first2))
return false;

return true;
}
equal (5)
namespace detail
{
// random-access iterator implementation (allows quick range size detection)
template<class RandomIt1, class RandomIt2>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(RandomIt1 first1, RandomIt1 last1, RandomIt2 first2, RandomIt2 last2,
std::random_access_iterator_tag, std::random_access_iterator_tag)
{
if (last1 - first1 != last2 - first2)
return false;

for (; first1 != last1; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!(*first1 == *first2))
return false;

return true;
}

// input iterator implementation (needs to manually compare with “last2”)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
std::input_iterator_tag, std::input_iterator_tag)
{
for (; first1 != last1 && first2 != last2; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!(*first1 == *first2))
return false;

return first1 == last1 && first2 == last2;
}
}

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2)
{
details::equal(first1, last1, first2, last2,
typename std::iterator_traits<InputIt1>::iterator_category(),
typename std::iterator_traits<InputIt2>::iterator_category());
}
equal (7)
namespace detail
{
// random-access iterator implementation (allows quick range size detection)
template<class RandomIt1, class RandomIt2, class BinaryPred>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(RandomIt1 first1, RandomIt1 last1,
RandomIt2 first2, RandomIt2 last2, BinaryPred p,
std::random_access_iterator_tag, std::random_access_iterator_tag)
{
if (last1 - first1 != last2 - first2)
return false;

for (; first1 != last1; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!p(*first1, *first2))
return false;

return true;
}

// input iterator implementation (needs to manually compare with “last2”)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class BinaryPred>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, BinaryPred p,
std::input_iterator_tag, std::input_iterator_tag)
{
for (; first1 != last1 && first2 != last2; ++first1, ++first2)
if (!p(*first1, *first2))
return false;

return first1 == last1 && first2 == last2;
}
}

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class BinaryPred>
constexpr //< since C++20
bool equal(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, BinaryPred p)
{
details::equal(first1, last1, first2, last2, p,
typename std::iterator_traits<InputIt1>::iterator_category(),
typename std::iterator_traits<InputIt2>::iterator_category());
}

Notes¶

std::equal should not be used to compare the ranges formed by the iterators from
std::unordered_set, std::unordered_multiset, std::unordered_map, or
std::unordered_multimap because the order in which the elements are stored in those
containers may be different even if the two containers store the same elements.

When comparing entire containers for equality, operator== for the corresponding
container are usually preferred.

Example¶

The following code uses std::equal to test if a string is a palindrome.

// Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
#include <string_view>

constexpr bool is_palindrome(const std::string_view& s)
{
return std::equal(s.cbegin(), s.cbegin() + s.size() / 2, s.crbegin());
}

void test(const std::string_view& s)
{
std::cout << std::quoted(s)
<< (is_palindrome(s) ? " is" : " is not")
<< " a palindrome\n";
}

int main()
{
test("radar");
test("hello");
}

Output:¶

"radar" is a palindrome
"hello" is not a palindrome

See also¶

find
find_if finds the first element satisfying specific criteria
find_if_not (function template)
(C++11)
returns true if one range is lexicographically less than
lexicographical_compare another
(function template)
mismatch finds the first position where two ranges differ
(function template)
search searches for a range of elements
(function template)
ranges::equal determines if two sets of elements are the same
(C++20) (niebloid)
equal_to function object implementing x == y
(class template)
equal_range returns range of elements matching a specific key
(function template)