N4007
Revision of N3581
2014-05-25
Mike Spertus, Symantec
mike_spertus@symantec.com
Nathan Wilson
nwilson20@gmail.com

Delimited iterators (Rev. 2)

It is extremely tempting to use ostream_iterator to, say, print a vector like: vector<int> v = {1, 4, 6}; cout << "("; copy(v.begin(), v.end(), ostream_iterator<int>(cout, ", ")); cout << ")"; // Oops! Prints (1, 4, 6, )

The problem is that the “delimiter” in the ostream_iterator constructor call is better described as a suffix than a delimiter.

Proposal

We propose a new ostream_joiner class that acts like ostream_iterator except that the delimiter is only placed between output elements: vector<int> v = {1, 4, 6}; cout << "("; copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::make_ostream_joiner(cout, ", ")); cout << ")"; // Prints (1, 4, 6) as desired

If we want the delimiter after each element, like in ostream_iterator, we can specify it as followsvector<int> v = {1, 4, 6}; // Prints 1, 4, and 6 on their own lines as desired copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::make_ostream_joiner(cout, "\n", std::suffix));

Discussion

In the LEWG discussion of N3581 in Issaquah, it was pointed out that the interactions of this proposal were unexpectedly subtle, so the authors wish to discuss the design decisions in more detail.

• As pointed out in LEWG, output iterators can be defined as having void value type (§24.4.1p1), so the type being iterated need not be specified. It is apparently included in ostream_iterator for stylistic reasons only. Since brevity is of the essence in most uses of convenience classes such as this, we choose to omit the value type from ostream_joiner.
• Since we are changing template parameters, we reject Option 1 from N3581(add functionality to ostream_iterator instead of creating a new class) and create a new class instead.
• Since ostream_joiner is necessarily stateful and iterators are CopyConstructible and CopyAssignable, (§24.2.2p2), we need to consider what happens when ostream_joiners are copied. According to §24.2.4p2, “Assignment through the same value of the iterator happens only once.” (Emphasis in the original). At Issaquah, this was interpreted as meaning that writing to one copy of an output iterator invalidates writing through the original output iterator. This conveniently means that the ostream_joiner can store whether we are outputting the first element as a member, without the need for undesirable shared state (although it is not prohibited).
• There was a strong preference for an enum to distinguish between infix and suffix delimiters. I chose to use an ordinary non-scoped enum in std because scoped or local enums would be very wordy for the convenience uses envisioned for a class like this. It is the authors belief that one of the reasons that ostream_iterator seems less used than one would expect is the long and cumbersome expression one needs to type.
• Having an infix and suffix style begs the question of whether there should be a prefix style. We will pose this question to LEWG when presenting.
• Another possible variant would be to have a separate prefix, infix, and suffix to the list. copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::ostream_joiner(cout, {"(", ", ", ")"})); On the one hand, this may be guilding the lily. On the other hand, most of the uses we have run into would leverage this and those that don't could use the simpler notation, and it obviates the need for the annoying delimiter_style enum.
• We provide a make_ostream_joiner function to simplify the deduction of template parameters as suggested by LEWG.
• If Template parameter deduction for constructors is eventually adopted, we will be able to dispense with the make_ prefix for notation that will be more concise without sacrificing clarity:copy(v.begin(), v.end(), std::ostream_joiner(cout, ", "));

Implementation

Wording

//24.6, stream iterators:
enum delimiter_type {
  infix,
  suffix
};

template <class T, class charT = char, class traits = char_traits<charT>,
    class Distance = ptrdiff_t>
class istream_iterator;
template <class T, class charT, class traits, class Distance>
  bool operator==(const istream_iterator&;t'T,charT,traits,Distance>& x,
          const istream_iterator<T,charT,traits,Distance>& y);
template <class T, class charT, class traits, class Distance>
  bool operator!=(const istream_iterator<T,charT,traits,Distance>& x,
          const istream_iterator<T,charT,traits,Distance>& y);
          
template <class charT = char, class traits = char_traits<charT> >
    class ostream_iterator;
template <class charT = char, class traits = char_traits<charT> >
    class ostream_joiner;
template <class charT, class traits>
  ostream_joiner make_ostream_joiner(basic_ostream<charT, traits>& os, delimiter_style d = infix);
template<class charT, class traits = char_traits<charT> >
class istreambuf_iterator;

ostream_joiner is defined as:

namespace std {
  template <class charT = char, class traits = char_traits<charT> >
  class ostream_joiner:
    public iterator<output_iterator_tag, void, void, void, void> {
  public:
    typedef charT char_type;
    typedef traits traits_type;
    typedef basic_ostream<charT,traits> ostream_type;
    ostream_joiner(ostream_type& s, const charT* delimiter, delimiter_style d = infix);
    ostream_joiner(const ostream_iterator<T,charT,traits>& x);
   ~ostream_joiner();
    template<typename T>
    ostream_joiner<charT,traits>& operator=(const T& value);
    ostream_joiner<charT,traits>& operator*();
    ostream_joiner<charT,traits>& operator++();
    ostream_joiner<charT,traits>& operator++(int);
  private:
    basic_ostream<charT,traits>* out_stream; // exposition only
    const charT* delim; // exposition only
    bool first_element; // exposition only
    delimiter_style style; // exposition only
  };
}

ostream_joiner(ostream_type& s, const charT* delimiter, delimiter_style d);

Effects: Initializes out_stream with &s, delim with delimiter, style with d and first_element with true.

ostream_joiner(const ostream_joiner& x);

Effects: Constructs a copy of x.

template<typename T>

ostream_joiner& operator=(const T& value);

Effects:

if(delim != 0) {
  if(style== suffix || !first_element)
   *out_stream << delim;
  first_element = false;
}
*out_stream << value;
return (*this);

template <class charT, class traits>
  ostream_joiner make_ostream_joiner(basic_ostream<charT, traits>& os, delimiter_style d = infix);
Returns: ostream_joiner<charT, traits>(os, delimiter, d);