Question

I have a the following code.

vector<IRD>* irds = myotherobj->getIRDs();//gets a pointer to the vector<IRD>
for(vector<IRD>::iterator it = irds->begin(); it < irds->end(); it++)
    {
        IRD* ird = dynamic_cast<IRD*>(it);
        ird->doSomething();
        //this works (*it).doSomething();

    }

This seems to fail…I just want to get the pointer to each element in the vector without using (*it). all over.

1. How do I get the pointer to the object?
2. When I iterate over the vector pointer irds, what exactly am I iterating over? Is it a copy of each element, or am I working with the actual object in the vector when I say (*it).doSomething(),

Answer 1

Why do you want to get a pointer?

Use a reference:

for(vector<IRD>::iterator it = irds->begin(); it != irds->end(); ++it)
{
    IRD & ird = *it;
    ird.doSomething();
}

Alternatively:

for(vector<IRD>::iterator it = irds->begin(); it != irds->end(); ++it)
{
    it->doSomething();
}

Also, as everyone said, use != when comparing iterators, not <. While it’ll work in this case, it’ll stop working if you use a different container (and that’s what iterators are for: abstracting the underlying container).