C++, copy set to vector

Question

I need to copy std::set to std::vector:

std::set <double> input;
input.insert(5);
input.insert(6);

std::vector <double> output;
std::copy(input.begin(), input.end(), output.begin()); //Error: Vector iterator not dereferencable

Where is the problem?

Answer 1

You need to use a back_inserter:

std::copy(input.begin(), input.end(), std::back_inserter(output));

std::copy doesn't add elements to the container into which you are inserting: it can't; it only has an iterator into the container. Because of this, if you pass an output iterator directly to std::copy, you must make sure it points to a range that is at least large enough to hold the input range.

std::back_inserter creates an output iterator that calls push_back on a container for each element, so each element is inserted into the container. Alternatively, you could have created a sufficient number of elements in the std::vector to hold the range being copied:

std::vector<double> output(input.size());
std::copy(input.begin(), input.end(), output.begin());

Or, you could use the std::vector range constructor:

std::vector<double> output(input.begin(), input.end());