Remove elements of a vector inside the loop

Question

I know that there are similar questions to this one, but I didn’t manage to find the way on my code by their aid. I want merely to delete/remove an element of a vector by checking an attribute of this element inside a loop. How can I do that? I tried the following code but I receive the vague message of error:

'operator =' function is unavailable in 'Player’.

 for (vector<Player>::iterator it = allPlayers.begin(); it != allPlayers.end(); it++)
 {
     if(it->getpMoney()<=0) 
         it = allPlayers.erase(it);
     else 
         ++it;
 }

What should I do?

Update: Do you think that the question vector::erase with pointer member pertains to the same problem? Do I need hence an assignment operator? Why?

Answer 1

You should not increment it in the for loop:

for (vector<Player>::iterator it=allPlayers.begin(); 
                              it!=allPlayers.end(); 
                              /*it++*/) <----------- I commented it.
{

   if(it->getpMoney()<=0) 
      it = allPlayers.erase(it);
  else 
      ++it;
 }

Notice the commented part;it++ is not needed there, as it is getting incremented in the for-body itself.

As for the error "'operator =' function is unavailable in 'Player’", it comes from the usage of erase() which internally uses operator= to move elements in the vector. In order to use erase(), the objects of class Player must be assignable, which means you need to implement operator= for Player class.

Anyway, you should avoid raw loop¹ as much as possible and should prefer to use algorithms instead. In this case, the popular Erase-Remove Idiom can simplify what you're doing.

allPlayers.erase(
    std::remove_if(
        allPlayers.begin(), 
        allPlayers.end(),
        [](Player const & p) { return p.getpMoney() <= 0; }
    ), 
    allPlayers.end()
); 

^{1. It's one of the best talks by Sean Parent that I've ever watched.}