Question

Which version of the gcc compiler supports free const_iterator methods for containers, e.g.: cbegin, cend, crbegin, crend. I use gcc 4.6.1 with c++0x features enabled by -std=c++0x flag but these methods could not be resolved in my code.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, there are no free functions cbegin/cend in the standard, nor are there any of the reverse versions. You can always use a cast, though, to get the constant iterator:

auto it = std::begin(static_cast<T const &>(x));

Using std::add_const from <type_traits> you should even be able to rig up something fairly general if you need this a lot.

---

The container member functions cbegin/crbegin etc are all part of C++11, and GCC has been supporting those for some time; quite possibly since 4.3 (when C++11 support was first began). GCC 4.6 definitely supports those; if you’re having trouble, post the troublesome code.