std::set_symmetric_difference - cppreference.com
Namespaces
Variants

std::set_symmetric_difference

From cppreference.com
 
 
Algorithm library
Constrained algorithms and algorithms on ranges (C++20)
Constrained algorithms, e.g. ranges::copy, ranges::sort, ...
Non-modifying sequence operations    
Batch operations
(C++17)
Search operations
Modifying sequence operations
Copy operations
(C++11)
(C++11)
Swap operations
Transformation operations
Generation operations
Removing operations
Order-changing operations
(until C++17)(C++11)
(C++20)(C++20)
Sampling operations
(C++17)

Sorting and related operations
Partitioning operations
(C++11)    

Sorting operations
Binary search operations
(on partitioned ranges)
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
Merge operations (on sorted ranges)
Heap operations
Minimum/maximum operations
(C++11)
(C++17)
Lexicographical comparison operations
Permutation operations


 
Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt >
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference
    ( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
      InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
      OutputIt d_first );
(1) (constexpr since C++20)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2,
          class OutputIt, class Compare >
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference
    ( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
      InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
      OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );
(2) (constexpr since C++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy,
          class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3 >
ForwardIt3 set_symmetric_difference
    ( ExecutionPolicy&& policy,
      ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,
      ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2,
      ForwardIt3 d_first );
(3) (since C++17)
template< class ExecutionPolicy,
          class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2,
          class ForwardIt3, class Compare >
ForwardIt3 set_symmetric_difference
    ( ExecutionPolicy&& policy,
      ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1,
      ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2,
      ForwardIt3 d_first, Compare comp );
(4) (since C++17)

Constructs a hypothetical sorted symmetric difference from two sorted source ranges [first1last1) and [first2last2), the difference consists of the set of elements present in exactly one of the source ranges. Copies all elements of the symmetric difference set to the destination range beginning at d_first.

For each group of equivalent elements to be included in the symmetric difference, let n1 and n2 be the numbers of elements from the two source ranges respectively:

  • The first std::min(n1, n2) elements from the first source range will be skipped, and all remaining elments will be included in the symmetric difference in order.
  • The first std::min(n1, n2) elements from the second source range will be skipped, and all remaining elments will be included in the symmetric difference in order.


1) The order is determined by operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).
If any of the two source ranges is not sorted with respect to operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20), the behavior is undefined.
2) The order is determined by comp.
If any of the two source ranges is not sorted with respect to comp, the behavior is undefined.
3,4) Same as (1,2), but executed according to policy.
These overloads participate in overload resolution only if the value of the following expression is true:

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>>

(until C++20)

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>>

(since C++20)

If the destination range overlaps with any of the two source ranges, the behavior is undefined.

Parameters

first1, last1 - the pair of iterators defining the first source range
first2, last2 - the pair of iterators defining the second source range
d_first - the beginning of the destination range
comp - comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns ​true if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second.

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

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

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 both Type1 and Type2. ​

policy - the execution policy to use
Type requirements
-
InputIt1, InputIt2 must meet the requirements of LegacyInputIterator.
-
OutputIt must meet the requirements of LegacyOutputIterator.
-
ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2, ForwardIt3 must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
-
Compare must meet the requirements of Compare.

Return value

The past-the-end iterator of the destination range.

Complexity

Given

  • N1 as std::distance(first1, last1),
  • N2 as std::distance(first2, last2):
1) At most 2⋅(N1+N2)-1 comparisons using operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).
2) At most 2⋅(N1+N2)-1 applications of the comparison function comp.
3) 𝓞(N1+N2) comparisons using operator<(until C++20)std::less{}(since C++20).
4) 𝓞(N1+N2) applications of the comparison function comp.

Exceptions

3,4) During the execution process:
  • If the temporary memory resources required for parallelization are not available, std::bad_alloc is thrown.
  • If an uncaught exception is thrown while accessing objects via an algorithm argument, the behavior is determined by the execution policy (for standard policies, std::terminate is invoked).

Possible implementation

set_symmetric_difference (1)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt>
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                  InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
        
        if (*first1 < *first2)
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (*first2 < *first1)
                *d_first++ = *first2;
            else
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}
set_symmetric_difference (2)
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                  InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                                  OutputIt d_first, Compare comp)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
        
        if (comp(*first1, *first2))
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (comp(*first2, *first1))
                *d_first++ = *first2;
            else
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}

Example

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <vector>

int main()
{
    std::vector<int> v1{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8};
    std::vector<int> v2{5, 7, 9, 10};
    std::sort(v1.begin(), v1.end());
    std::sort(v2.begin(), v2.end());
    
    std::vector<int> v_symDifference;
    
    std::set_symmetric_difference(v1.begin(), v1.end(), v2.begin(), v2.end(),
                                  std::back_inserter(v_symDifference));
    
    for (int n : v_symDifference)
        std::cout << n << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}

Output:

1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10

Defect reports

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

DR Applied to Behavior as published Correct behavior
LWG 291 C++98 it was unspecified how to handle equivalent elements in the source ranges specified

See also