The C++ Standard Library consists of the header, <algorithm>
which defines a collection of functions (principally designed to deal with a range of elements). min_element()
is a method in the STL that returns an iterator pointing to the smallest value in a given container (arrays, vectors, lists) in the specified range.
Syntax
min_element(iterator_begin, iterator_end); //find smallest element from [begin,end) min_element(iterator_begin, iterator_end, comparator); //for comparison based on a defined function
Parameters: The min_element()
method accepts 3 parameters
- iterator_begin: Random access iterator to the initial position
- iterator_end: Random access iterator to the final position ( Note: the range is [iterator_begin,iterator_end) )
- comparator: Binary function that accepts two elements in the range as arguments, and returns a value convertible to bool.
Return value: An iterator to the smallest value in the range, or iterator_end if the range is empty.
Example of min_element() method
#include <iostream> #include <algorithm> #include <vector> using namespace std; bool absolute(int a, int b) { return (abs(a) < abs(b)); } int main() { vector<int> v; v.push_back(1); v.push_back(6); v.push_back(8); v.push_back(-3); v.push_back(-10); vector<int>::iterator it = min_element(v.begin(),v.end()); cout<<"Min element: "<< *it << endl; vector<int>::iterator it2 = min_element(v.begin(), v.end(), absolute); cout<<"Min element (absolute): "<< *it2 << endl; }
Output:
Min element: -10 Min element (absolute): 1