std::set_difference

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt > OutputIt set_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first );	(1)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3 > ForwardIt3 set_difference( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first );	(2)	(since 哋它亢++17)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare > OutputIt set_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );	(3)	(constexpr since 哋它亢++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3, class Compare > ForwardIt3 set_difference( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first, Compare comp );	(4)	(since 哋它亢++17)

Copies the elements from the sorted range [first1, last1) which are not found in the sorted range [first2, last2) to the range beginning at d_first. The output range is also sorted.

If [first1, last1) contains m elements that are equivalent to each other and [first2, last2) contains n elements that are equivalent to them, the final std::max(m - n, 0) elements will be copied from [first1, last1) to the output range, preserving order.

1) If [first1, last1) or [first2, last2) is not sorted with respect to operator<(until 哋它亢++20)std::less{}(since 哋它亢++20), the behavior is undefined.

3) If [first1, last1) or [first2, last2) is not sorted with respect to comp, the behavior is undefined.

2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to policy.

These overloads participate in overload resolution only if

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true.	(until 哋它亢++20)
std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true.	(since 哋它亢++20)

If the output range overlaps with [first1, last1) or [first2, last2), the behavior is undefined.

Parameters

first1, last1	-	the range of elements to examine
first2, last2	-	the range of elements to search for
d_first	-	the beginning of the output range
policy	-	the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
comp	-	comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns true if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1& a, const Type2& b); While the signature does not need to have const&, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) `Type1` and `Type2` regardless of value category (thus, `Type1&` is not allowed, nor is `Type1` unless for `Type1` a move is equivalent to a copy(since 哋它亢++11)). The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that objects of types InputIt1 and InputIt2 can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both Type1 and Type2.
Type requirements
- `InputIt1, InputIt2` must meet the requirements of LegacyInputIterator.
- `OutputIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyOutputIterator.
- `ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2, ForwardIt3` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
- `Compare` must meet the requirements of Compare.

Return value

Iterator past the end of the constructed range.

Complexity

Given $\scriptsize N_1$ $N 1$ as std::distance(first1, last1) and $\scriptsize N_2$ $N 2$ as std::distance(first2, last2):

1,2) At most

2\cdot(N 1 +N 2)-1

comparisons using operator<(until 哋它亢++20)std::less{}(since 哋它亢++20).

3,4) At most

2\cdot(N 1 +N 2)-1

applications of the comparison function comp.

Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named ExecutionPolicy report errors as follows:

If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and ExecutionPolicy is one of the standard policies, std::terminate is called. For any other ExecutionPolicy, the behavior is implementation-defined.
If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

Possible implementation

set_difference (1)

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt>
OutputIt set_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                        InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (*first1 < *first2)
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (! (*first2 < *first1))
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return d_first;
}

set_difference (3)

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt set_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                        InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp)
{
    while (first1 != last1)
    {
        if (first2 == last2)
            return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (comp(*first1, *first2))
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        else
        {
            if (!comp(*first2, *first1))
                ++first1;
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return d_first;
}

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <vector>
 
template<typename T>
std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const std::vector<T>& v)
{
    os << '{';
    for (auto n{v.size()}; const auto& e : v)
        os << e << (--n ? ", " : "");
    return os << '}';
}
 
struct Order // a struct with very interesting data
{
    int order_id{};
 
    friend std::ostream& operator<<(std::ostream& os, const Order& ord)
    {
        return os << ord.order_id;
    }
};
 
int main()
{
    const std::vector<int> v1{1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 9};
    const std::vector<int> v2{2, 5, 7};
    std::vector<int> diff;
 
    std::set_difference(v1.begin(), v1.end(), v2.begin(), v2.end(),
                        std::inserter(diff, diff.begin()));
 
    std::cout << v1 << " ∖ " << v2 << " == " << diff << "\n\n";
 
    // we want to know which orders "cut" between old and new states:
    std::vector<Order> old_orders{{1}, {2}, {5}, {9}};
    std::vector<Order> new_orders{{2}, {5}, {7}};
    std::vector<Order> cut_orders;
 
    std::set_difference(old_orders.begin(), old_orders.end(),
                        new_orders.begin(), new_orders.end(),
                        std::back_inserter(cut_orders),
                        [](auto& a, auto& b) { return a.order_id < b.order_id; });
 
    std::cout << "old orders: " << old_orders << '\n'
              << "new orders: " << new_orders << '\n'
              << "cut orders: " << cut_orders << '\n';
}

Output:

{1, 2, 5, 5, 5, 9} ∖ {2, 5, 7} == {1, 5, 5, 9}
 
old orders: {1, 2, 5, 9}
new orders: {2, 5, 7}
cut orders: {1, 9}

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published 哋它亢++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 291	哋它亢++98	it was unspecified how to handle equivalent elements in the input ranges	specified

Compiler support
Freestanding and hosted
Language
Standard library
Standard library headers
Named requirements
Feature test macros (哋它亢++20)
Language support library
Concepts library (哋它亢++20)
Metaprogramming library (哋它亢++11)
Diagnostics library
General utilities library
Strings library
Containers library
Iterators library
Ranges library (哋它亢++20)
Algorithms library
Numerics library
Localizations library
Input/output library
Filesystem library (哋它亢++17)
Regular expressions library (哋它亢++11)
Concurrency support library (哋它亢++11)
Technical specifications
Symbols index
External libraries

includes	returns true if one sequence is a subsequence of another (function template)
set_symmetric_difference	computes the symmetric difference between two sets (function template)
ranges::set_difference (哋它亢++20)	computes the difference between two sets (niebloid)