Listing C++ STL Algorithms

Recently, I came across a YouTube video on 105 C++ STL algorithms. This made me realise how little I knew about the C++ STL, and that I should study it in greater detail to become a more effective C++ programmer.

Hence, I’ve decided to pen down my notes on the C++ STL here, starting with a list of algorithms and their categories in the C++ STL.

Credits to the YouTube video linked above and the speaker’s website.

Prelude: learning points

• Use STL algorithms to make your code more expressive (replace for-loops with the right algorithm)
• Understand the pre/post-requisites, time complexities, and implementations of the algorithms
• Understand what abstractions work well and complement the library with your own algorithms
• Use https://cppreference.com to read the documentation for each algorithm

Permutations

Heaps

• make_heap
• push_heap
• pop_heap
• sort_heap
• is_heap
• is_heap_until

Sorting

• sort
• stable_sort
• partial_sort
• partial_sort_copy
• nth_element
• sort_heap
• inplace_merge
• is_sorted
• is_sorted_until

Partitioning

• partition
• partition_copy
• stable_partition
• partition_point
• is_partition
• is_partitioned_until

Other permutations

• rotate
• rotate_copy
• shuffle
• next_permutation
• prev_permutation
• reverse
• reverse_copy

Modifiers

• stable_sort, stable_partition (stable_*)
• is_sorted, is_partitioned, is_heap (is_*)
• is_sorted_until, is_partitioned_until, is_heap_until (is_*_until)

Queries

Numerics

• count
• count_if
• accumulate
• transform_reduce
• reduce
• partial_sum
• inclusive_scan
• exclusive_scan
• transform_inclusive_scan
• transform_exclusive_scan
• inner_product
• adjacent_difference
• sample

Properties on 1 range

• all_of
• any_of
• none_of

Properties on 2 ranges

• equal
• is_permutation
• lexicographical_compare
• mismatch

Searching for a value in an unsorted range

• find
• find_if
• find_if_not
• adjacent_find

Searching for a value in a sorted range

• equal_range
• lower_bound
• upper_bound
• binary_search

Searching for a range within a range

• search
• search_n
• find_end
• find_first_of

Searching for a relative value in range

• max_element
• min_element
• minmax_element

Sets

• set_difference
• set_intersection
• set_union
• set_symmetric_difference
• includes
• merge

Moving elements

• copy
• copy_n
• copy_if
• copy_backward
• uninitialized_fill
• move
• uninitialized_move
• move_backward
• swap_ranges

Modifying values

• fill
• fill_n
• uninitialized_fill
• generate
• generate_n
• iota
• replace
• replace_if
• replace_copy
• replacecopyif

Changing structures

• remove
• remove_if
• remove_copy
• remove_copy_if
• erase
• unique
• unique_copy

Raw memory

• uninitialized_fill
• uninitialized_fill_n
• uninitialized_copy
• uninitialized_copy_n
• uninitialized_move
• uninitialized_move_n
• destroy
• destroy_n
• uninitialized_default_construct
• uninitialized_default_construct_n
• uninitialized_value_construct
• uninitialized_value_construct_n

Others

• transform
• for_each (This is meant for side-effects. Anything else is more appropriately expressed by other algorithms)
• for_each_n

Boost library

• gather
• sort_subrange
• is_palindrome
• boyer_moore
• one_of
• …and more!