std::unique_copy

 

C++

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Functions
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_ofany_ofnone_of (C++11)(C++11)(C++11) for_each countcount_if mismatch equal	findfind_iffind_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n
Modifying sequence operations
copycopy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) fill fill_n transform generate generate_n removeremove_if remove_copyremove_copy_if	replacereplace_if replace_copyreplace_copy_if swap swap_ranges iter_swap reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffleshuffle  (C++11) unique unique_copy
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is_partitioned (C++11) partition partition_copy (C++11)	stable_partition partition_point (C++11)
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is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) sort	partial_sort partial_sort_copy stable_sort nth_element
Binary search operations (on sorted ranges)
lower_bound upper_bound	binary_search equal_range
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merge inplace_merge includes	set_difference set_intersection set_symmetric_difference set_union
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is_heap (C++11) is_heap_until (C++11) make_heap	push_heap pop_heap sort_heap
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max max_element min min_element minmax (C++11) minmax_element (C++11)	lexicographical_compare is_permutation (C++11) next_permutation prev_permutation
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iota (C++11) accumulate inner_product	adjacent_difference partial_sum
C library
qsort	bsearch

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class InputIt, class OutputIt > OutputIt unique_copy( InputIt first, InputIt last,                        OutputIt d_first );	(1)
template< class InputIt, class OutputIt, class BinaryPredicate > OutputIt unique_copy( InputIt first, InputIt last,                        OutputIt d_first, BinaryPredicate p );	(2)

Copies the elements from the range [first, last), to another range beginning at d_first in such a way that there are no consecutive equal elements. Only the first element of each group of equal elements is copied. The first version uses operator== to compare the elements, the second version uses the given binary predicate p.

Parameters

first, last	-	the range of elements to process
d_first	-	the beginning of the destination range
p	-	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); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it. The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type ForwardIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both of them. ​
Type requirements
- InputIt must meet the requirements of InputIterator.
- OutputIt must meet the requirements of OutputIterator.
- The type of dereferenced InputIt must meet the requirements of CopyAssignable.
- The type of dereferenced InputIt must meet the requirements of CopyConstructible. if neither InputIt nor OutputIt satisfies ForwardIterator

Return value

Output iterator to the element past the last written element

Possible implementation

First version
template<class ForwardIt, class OutputIt> ForwardIt unique_copy(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, OutputIt d_first) {   if (first == last) return d_first;   *d_first = *first; while (++first != last) { if (!(*d_first == *first)) { *(++d_first) = *first; } } return ++d_first; }
Second version
template<class ForwardIt, class OutputIt, class BinaryPredicate> ForwardIt unique_copy(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, OutputIt d_first, BinaryPredicate p) {   if (first == last) return d_first;   *d_first = *first; while (++first != last) { if (!p(*result, *first)) { *(++d_first) = *first; } } return ++d_first; }

Example

The following program trims all multiple consecutive spaces in a const string and prints the result

Run this code

#include <string>
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
 
int main()
{
    std::string s1 = "The      string    with many       spaces!";
    std::cout << "before: " << s1 << '\n';
 
    std::string s2;
    std::unique_copy(s1.begin(), s1.end(), std::back_inserter(s2),
                     [](char c1, char c2){ return c1 == ' ' && c2 == ' '; });
 
    std::cout << "after:  " << s2 << '\n';
}

Output:

before: The      string    with many       spaces!
after:  The string with many spaces!

Complexity

linear in the distance between first and last

See also

adjacent_find	finds the first two adjacent items that are equal (or satisfy a given predicate) (function template)
unique	removes consecutive duplicate elements in a range (function template)