# std::iterator_traits

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< cpp‎ | iterator

Defined in header `<iterator>` |  |
template< class Iter > struct iterator_traits; |  |
template< class T > struct iterator_traits<T*>; |  |
template< class T > struct iterator_traits<const T*>; |  | (until C++20)

`std::iterator_traits` is the type trait class that provides uniform interface to the properties of LegacyIterator types. This makes it possible to implement algorithms only in terms of iterators.

The class defines the following types:

- `difference_type` - a signed integer type that can be used to identify distance between iterators
- `value_type` - the type of the values that can be obtained by dereferencing the iterator. This type is `void` for output iterators.
- `pointer` - defines a pointer to the type iterated over (`value_type`)
- `reference` - defines a reference to the type iterated over (`value_type`)
- `iterator_category` - the category of the iterator. Must be one of iterator category tags.

The template can be specialized for user-defined iterators so that the information about the iterator can be retrieved even if the type does not provide the usual typedefs.

User specializations may define the member type `iterator_concept` to one of iterator category tags, to indicate conformance to the iterator concepts. | (since C++20)

### Template parameters

Iter | - | the iterator type to retrieve properties for

### Member types

Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | `Iter::difference_type`
`value_type` | `Iter::value_type`
`pointer` | `Iter::pointer`
`reference` | `Iter::reference`
`iterator_category` | `Iter::iterator_category`

If `Iter` does not have all five member types `difference_type`, `value_type`, `pointer`, `reference`, and `iterator_category`, then this template has no members by any of those names (std::iterator_traits is SFINAE-friendly) | (since C++17) (until C++20)
If `Iter` does not have `pointer`, but has all other four member types, then the member types are declared as follows:
Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | `Iter::difference_type`
`value_type` | `Iter::value_type`
`pointer` | `void`
`reference` | `Iter::reference`
`iterator_category` | `Iter::iterator_category`
Otherwise, if `Iter` satisfies the exposition-only concept `__LegacyInputIterator`, the member types are declared as follows:
Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | std::incrementable_traits<Iter>::difference_type
`value_type` | std::readable_traits<Iter>::value_type
`pointer` | `Iter::pointer` if valid, otherwise decltype(​std::declval<Iter&>().operator->()) if valid, otherwise `void`
`reference` | `Iter::reference` if valid, otherwise std::iter_reference_t<Iter>
`iterator_category` | `Iter::iterator_category` if valid, otherwise, std::random_access_iterator_tag if `Iter` satisfies `__LegacyRandomAccessIterator`, otherwise, std::bidirectional_iterator_tag if `Iter` satisfies `__LegacyBidirectionalIterator`, otherwise, std::forward_iterator_tag if `Iter` satisfies `__LegacyForwardIterator`, otherwise, std::input_iterator_tag
Otherwise, if `Iter` satisfies the exposition-only concept `__LegacyIterator`, the member types are declared as follows:
Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | std::incrementable_traits<Iter>::difference_type if valid, otherwise `void`
`value_type` | `void`
`pointer` | `void`
`reference` | `void`
`iterator_category` | `std::output_iterator_tag`
Otherwise, this template has no members by any of those names (std::iterator_traits is SFINAE-friendly). | (since C++20)

### Specializations

This type trait may be specialized for user-provided types that may be used as iterators. The standard library provides two partial specializations for pointer types T*, which makes it possible to use all iterator-based algorithms with raw pointers.

#### `T*` specialization member types

Only specialized if std::is_object_v<T> is true. | (since C++20)

Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | std::ptrdiff_t
`value_type` | `T` (until C++20)std::remove_cv_t<T> (since C++20)
`pointer` | `T*`
`reference` | `T&`
`iterator_category` | std::random_access_iterator_tag
`iterator_concept`(since C++20) | std::contiguous_iterator_tag

#### `const T*` specialization member types
Member type | Definition
`difference_type` | std::ptrdiff_t
`value_type` | `T`
`pointer` | `const T*`
`reference` | `const T&`
`iterator_category` | std::random_access_iterator_tag
| (until C++20)

### Example

The following example shows a general-purpose `reverse()` implementation for bidirectional iterators

Run this code

    #include <iostream>
    #include <iterator>
    #include <vector>
    #include <list>

    template<class BidirIt>
    void my_reverse(BidirIt first, BidirIt last)
    {
        typename std::iterator_traits<BidirIt>::difference_type n = std::distance(first, last);
        --n;
        while(n > 0) {
            typename std::iterator_traits<BidirIt>::value_type tmp = *first;
            *first++ = *--last;
            *last = tmp;
            n -= 2;
        }
    }

    int main()
    {
        std::vector<int> v{1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
        my_reverse(v.begin(), v.end());
        for (int n : v) {
            std::cout << n << ' ';
        }
        std::cout << '\n';

        std::list<int> l{1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
        my_reverse(l.begin(), l.end());
        for (auto n : l) {
            std::cout << n << ' ';
        }
        std::cout << '\n';

        int a[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
        my_reverse(a, a+5);
        for (int i=0; i<5; ++i) {
            std::cout << a[i] << ' ';
        }
        std::cout << '\n';

    //    std::istreambuf_iterator<char> i1(std::cin), i2;
    //    my_reverse(i1, i2); // compilation error

    }

Output:

    5 4 3 2 1
    5 4 3 2 1
    5 4 3 2 1

### See also

iterator (deprecated in C++17) | base class to ease the definition of required types for simple iterators (class template)
input_iterator_tag output_iterator_tag forward_iterator_tag bidirectional_iterator_tag random_access_iterator_tag contiguous_iterator_tag (C++20) | empty class types used to indicate iterator categories (class)

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