Question

I need to make a template function that receives as parameter a std::container of some type – let’s say std::vector and deletes all elements from that container. I need a function equivalent to this:

for_each(some_vector.begin(), some_vector.end(), [](some_vector_type* element){delete element;}); 

The call should be something like:

delete_all_elements(some_vector);

Is this possible?

EDIT: I want to use first code inside delete_all_elements

Answer 1

Why wouldn’t it be?

template <typename C>
void delete_all_elements(C& container) {
    std::for_each(
        container.begin(), container.end(),
        [](typename C::value_type ptr) { delete ptr; }
    );
    container.clear();
}

You can add e.g. static_assert(std::is_pointer<typename C::value_type>::value, "Elements must be pointers"); at the beginning to ensure you won’t try to delete non-pointers.