Question

#include "stdafx.h"

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    string s = "Haven't got an idea why.";
    auto beg =  s.begin();
    auto end = s.end();
    while (beg < end)
    {
        cout << *beg << '\n';
        if (*beg == 'a')
        {//whithout if construct it works perfectly
            beg = s.erase(beg);
        }
        ++beg;
    }
    return 0;
}

Why if I erase one or more chars from this string this code breaks? I suppose it has something to do with returned iterator after erase operation being created at higher address than end iterator but I’m not sure and it surely isn’t right behaviour. Or is it?

Answer 1

There are several problems with this code.

1. Don’t cache the value of s.end(); it changes as you delete elements.
2. Don’t use beg < end. The idiomatic approach is to write beg != end. If you try to iterate past end, the result is undefined, and a debug version of the string library may deliberately crash your process, so it is meaningless to use <.
3. The iterator returned from s.erase(beg) might be s.end(), in which case ++beg takes you past the end.

Here’s a (I think) correct version:

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    string s = "Haven't got an idea why.";
    for (auto beg = s.begin(); beg != s.end();)
    {
        cout << *beg << '\n';
        if (*beg == 'a')
        {//whithout if construct it works perfectly
            beg = s.erase(beg);
        }
        else
        {
            ++beg;
        }
    }
}

EDIT: I suggest accepting FredOverflow’s answer. It is simpler and faster than the above.