A forward_list is a container that supports forward iterators and allows constant time insert and erase operations anywhere within the sequence, with storage management handled automatically. Fast random access to list elements is not supported. [ Note: It is intended that forward_list have zero space or time overhead relative to a hand-written C-style singly linked list. Features that would conflict with that goal have been omitted. — end note ]
A forward_list satisfies all of the requirements of a container (Table [tab:containers.container.requirements]), except that the size() member function is not provided and operator== has linear complexity. A forward_list also satisfies all of the requirements for an allocator-aware container (Table [tab:containers.allocatoraware]). In addition, a forward_list provides the assign member functions (Table [tab:containers.sequence.requirements]) and several of the optional container requirements (Table [tab:containers.sequence.optional]). Descriptions are provided here only for operations on forward_list that are not described in that table or for operations where there is additional semantic information.
[ Note: Modifying any list requires access to the element preceding the first element of interest, but in a forward_list there is no constant-time way to access a preceding element. For this reason, ranges that are modified, such as those supplied to erase and splice, must be open at the beginning. — end note ]
namespace std { template <class T, class Allocator = allocator<T> > class forward_list { public: // types: typedef value_type& reference; typedef const value_type& const_reference; typedef implementation-defined iterator; // See [container.requirements] typedef implementation-defined const_iterator; // See [container.requirements] typedef implementation-defined size_type; // See [container.requirements] typedef implementation-defined difference_type;// See [container.requirements] typedef T value_type; typedef Allocator allocator_type; typedef typename allocator_traits<Allocator>::pointer pointer; typedef typename allocator_traits<Allocator>::const_pointer const_pointer; // [forwardlist.cons], construct/copy/destroy: forward_list() : forward_list(Allocator()) { } explicit forward_list(const Allocator&); explicit forward_list(size_type n, const Allocator& = Allocator()); forward_list(size_type n, const T& value, const Allocator& = Allocator()); template <class InputIterator> forward_list(InputIterator first, InputIterator last, const Allocator& = Allocator()); forward_list(const forward_list& x); forward_list(forward_list&& x); forward_list(const forward_list& x, const Allocator&); forward_list(forward_list&& x, const Allocator&); forward_list(initializer_list<T>, const Allocator& = Allocator()); ~forward_list(); forward_list& operator=(const forward_list& x); forward_list& operator=(forward_list&& x); forward_list& operator=(initializer_list<T>); template <class InputIterator> void assign(InputIterator first, InputIterator last); void assign(size_type n, const T& t); void assign(initializer_list<T>); allocator_type get_allocator() const noexcept; // [forwardlist.iter], iterators: iterator before_begin() noexcept; const_iterator before_begin() const noexcept; iterator begin() noexcept; const_iterator begin() const noexcept; iterator end() noexcept; const_iterator end() const noexcept; const_iterator cbegin() const noexcept; const_iterator cbefore_begin() const noexcept; const_iterator cend() const noexcept; // capacity: bool empty() const noexcept; size_type max_size() const noexcept; // [forwardlist.access], element access: reference front(); const_reference front() const; // [forwardlist.modifiers], modifiers: template <class... Args> void emplace_front(Args&&... args); void push_front(const T& x); void push_front(T&& x); void pop_front(); template <class... Args> iterator emplace_after(const_iterator position, Args&&... args); iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, const T& x); iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, T&& x); iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, size_type n, const T& x); template <class InputIterator> iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, InputIterator first, InputIterator last); iterator insert_after(const_iterator position, initializer_list<T> il); iterator erase_after(const_iterator position); iterator erase_after(const_iterator position, const_iterator last); void swap(forward_list&); void resize(size_type sz); void resize(size_type sz, const value_type& c); void clear() noexcept; // [forwardlist.ops], forward_list operations: void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list& x); void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list&& x); void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list& x, const_iterator i); void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list&& x, const_iterator i); void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list& x, const_iterator first, const_iterator last); void splice_after(const_iterator position, forward_list&& x, const_iterator first, const_iterator last); void remove(const T& value); template <class Predicate> void remove_if(Predicate pred); void unique(); template <class BinaryPredicate> void unique(BinaryPredicate binary_pred); void merge(forward_list& x); void merge(forward_list&& x); template <class Compare> void merge(forward_list& x, Compare comp); template <class Compare> void merge(forward_list&& x, Compare comp); void sort(); template <class Compare> void sort(Compare comp); void reverse() noexcept; }; // Comparison operators template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator==(const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator< (const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator!=(const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator> (const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator>=(const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); template <class T, class Allocator> bool operator<=(const forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, const forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); // [forwardlist.spec], specialized algorithms: template <class T, class Allocator> void swap(forward_list<T,Allocator>& x, forward_list<T,Allocator>& y); }