Does the map::find
method support case insensitive search? I have a map as follows:
map<string, vector<string> > directory;
and want the below search to ignore case:
directory.find(search_string);
It does not by default. You will have to provide a custom comparator as a third argument. Following snippet will help you...
/************************************************************************/
/* Comparator for case-insensitive comparison in STL assos. containers */
/************************************************************************/
struct ci_less : std::binary_function<std::string, std::string, bool>
{
// case-independent (ci) compare_less binary function
struct nocase_compare : public std::binary_function<unsigned char,unsigned char,bool>
{
bool operator() (const unsigned char& c1, const unsigned char& c2) const {
return tolower (c1) < tolower (c2);
}
};
bool operator() (const std::string & s1, const std::string & s2) const {
return std::lexicographical_compare
(s1.begin (), s1.end (), // source range
s2.begin (), s2.end (), // dest range
nocase_compare ()); // comparison
}
};
Use it like std::map< std::string, std::vector<std::string>, ci_less > myMap;
NOTE: std::lexicographical_compare has some nitty-gritty details. String comparison isn't always straightforward if you consider locales. See this thread on c.l.c++ if interested.
UPDATE: With C++11 std::binary_function
is deprecated and is unnecessary as the types are deduced automatically.
struct ci_less
{
// case-independent (ci) compare_less binary function
struct nocase_compare
{
bool operator() (const unsigned char& c1, const unsigned char& c2) const {
return tolower (c1) < tolower (c2);
}
};
bool operator() (const std::string & s1, const std::string & s2) const {
return std::lexicographical_compare
(s1.begin (), s1.end (), // source range
s2.begin (), s2.end (), // dest range
nocase_compare ()); // comparison
}
};