cpp / latest / ranges / data.html /

std::ranges::data

Defined in header <ranges>
inline namespace /*unspecified*/ {
    inline constexpr /*unspecified*/ data = /*unspecified*/;
}
(since C++20)
(customization point object)
Call signature
template< class T >
    requires /* see below */
constexpr std::remove_reference_t<ranges::range_reference_t<T>>* data( T&& t );
(since C++20)

Returns a pointer to the first element of a contiguous range.

If the argument is an lvalue or ranges::enable_borrowed_range<std::remove_cv_t<T>> is true, a call to ranges::data is expression-equivalent to:

  1. std::forward<T>(t).data() converted to its decayed type, if that converted expression is valid, and its return type is a pointer to an object type.
  2. Otherwise, std::to_address(ranges::begin(std::forward<T>(t))), if ranges::begin(std::forward<T>(t)) is valid and returns a type that models std::contiguous_iterator. If std::remove_all_extents_t<std::remove_reference_t<T>> is incomplete, then ranges::data(std::forward<T>(t)) is ill-formed, no diagnostic required.

In all other cases, a call to ranges::data is ill-formed, which can result in substitution failure when ranges::data(e) appears in the immediate context of a template instantiation.

Expression-equivalent

Expression e is expression-equivalent to expression f, if.

  • e and f have the same effects, and
  • either both are constant subexpressions or else neither is a constant subexpression, and
  • either both are potentially-throwing or else neither is potentially-throwing (i.e. noexcept(e) == noexcept(f)).

Customization point objects

The name ranges::data denotes a customization point object, which is a const function object of a literal semiregular class type. For exposition purposes, the cv-unqualified version of its type is denoted as __data_fn.

All instances of __data_fn are equal. The effects of invoking different instances of type __data_fn on the same arguments are equivalent, regardless of whether the expression denoting the instance is an lvalue or rvalue, and is const-qualified or not (however, a volatile-qualified instance is not required to be invocable). Thus, ranges::data can be copied freely and its copies can be used interchangeably.

Given a set of types Args..., if std::declval<Args>()... meet the requirements for arguments to ranges::data above, __data_fn models
.

Otherwise, no function call operator of __data_fn participates in overload resolution.

Notes

If the argument is an rvalue (i.e. T is an object type) and ranges::enable_borrowed_range<std::remove_cv_t<T>> is false, the call to ranges::data is ill-formed, which also results in substitution failure.

If ranges::data(e) is valid for an expression e, then it returns a pointer to an object.

The C++20 standard requires that if the underlying data function call returns a prvalue, the return value is move-constructed from the materialized temporary object. All implementations directly return the prvalue instead. The requirement is corrected by the post-C++20 proposal P0849R8 to match the implementations.

Example

#include <cstring>
#include <iostream>
#include <ranges>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    std::string s {"Hello world!\n"};
 
    char a[20]; // storage for a C-style string
    std::strcpy(a, std::ranges::data(s));
    // [data(s), data(s) + size(s)] is guaranteed to be an NTBS
 
    std::cout << a;
}

Output:

Hello world!

See also

(C++20)
obtains a pointer to the beginning of a read-only contiguous range
(customization point object)
(C++20)
returns an iterator to the beginning of a range
(customization point object)
(C++17)
obtains the pointer to the underlying array
(function template)

© cppreference.com
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Unported License v3.0.
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/ranges/data