An output iterator addressing the position that is one past the final element in the destination range, that is, the iterator addresses _Result + (_Last – _First ).

The source range must be valid and there must be sufficient space at the destination to hold all the elements being copied.

Because the algorithm copies the source elements in order beginning with the first element, the destination range can overlap with the source range provided the _Last position of the source range is not contained in the destination range. copy can be used to shift elements to the left but not the right, unless there is no overlap between the source and destination ranges. To shift to the right any number of positions, use the copy_backward algorithm.

The copy algorithm only modifies values pointed to by the iterators, assigning new values to elements in the destination range. It cannot be used to create new elements and cannot insert elements into an empty container directly.

copy has two related forms:

• checked_copy

• unchecked_copy

For information on how these functions behave, see Checked Iterators.

// alg_copy.cpp
// compile with: /EHsc
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>

int main() {
   using namespace std;
   vector <int> v1, v2;
   vector <int>::iterator Iter1, Iter2;

   int i;
   for ( i = 0 ; i <= 5 ; i++ )
      v1.push_back( 10 * i );

   int ii;
   for ( ii = 0 ; ii <= 10 ; ii++ )
      v2.push_back( 3 * ii );

   cout << "v1 = ( " ;
   for ( Iter1 = v1.begin( ) ; Iter1 != v1.end( ) ; Iter1++ )
      cout << *Iter1 << " ";
   cout << ")" << endl;

   cout << "v2 = ( " ;
   for ( Iter2 = v2.begin( ) ; Iter2 != v2.end( ) ; Iter2++ )
      cout << *Iter2 << " ";
   cout << ")" << endl;

   // To copy the first 3 elements of v1 into the middle of v2
   copy( v1.begin( ), v1.begin( ) + 3, v2.begin( ) + 4 );

   cout << "v2 with v1 insert = ( " ;
   for ( Iter2 = v2.begin( ) ; Iter2 != v2.end( ) ; Iter2++ )
      cout << *Iter2 << " ";
   cout << ")" << endl;

   // To shift the elements inserted into v2 two positions
   // to the left
   copy( v2.begin( )+4, v2.begin( ) + 7, v2.begin( ) + 2 );

   cout << "v2 with shifted insert = ( " ;
   for ( Iter2 = v2.begin( ) ; Iter2 != v2.end( ) ; Iter2++ )
      cout << *Iter2 << " ";
   cout << ")" << endl;
}

For another sample showing how to use copy, see accumulate, copy, and vector::push_back.

v1 = ( 0 10 20 30 40 50 )
v2 = ( 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 )
v2 with v1 insert = ( 0 3 6 9 0 10 20 21 24 27 30 )
v2 with shifted insert = ( 0 3 0 10 20 10 20 21 24 27 30 )

Header: <algorithm>

Reference

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