An elegant way to iterate conditionally forward or backward

Question

I need to process std::vectoreither forward or vice versa, depending on the boolean flag. What is the most elegant way to achieve this? Before doing this in reverse, I:

BOOST_FOREACH(const CType &foo, vec) {
    ...
}

However, now I have a terrifying look:

for (int i=undoing ? (vec.size()-1) : 0; undoing ? (i >= 0) : (i < vec.size()); undoing ? (i--) : (i++)) {
    const CType &foo = vec[i];
    ...
}

Is there a better way?

Answer 1

I don’t know what people would call it elegant, but there are:

auto do_it = [](const CType& elem)
             {
                 ...
             };
if (iterate_forward) {
    std::for_each(vec.begin(), vec.end(), do_it);
}
else {
    std::for_each(vec.rbegin(), vec.rend(), do_it);
}

Answer 2

Add a template function that works with either cross iterators or reverse iterators. Call the function using the appropriate iterator based on the value undoing.

template <typename Iterator>
void doStuff(Iterator iter, Iterator end)
{
   for ( ; iter != end; ++iter )
   {
      // Do stuff
   }
}

if ( undoing )
{
   doStuff(vec.rbegin(), vec.rend());
}
else
{
   doStuff(vec.begin(), vec.end());
}

Answer 3

Boost.Range. STL, .

#include <boost/range/adaptor/reversed.hpp>
#include <boost/range/algorithm/for_each.hpp>

// In C++11 lambda expression can be used instead
struct my_fun
{
    void operator()(const CType& elem) const
    {
        /*...*/
    }
};

/*...*/

using namespace boost::adaptors;

if ( iterate_forward )
    boost::for_each(my_vect, my_fun());
else
    boost::for_each(my_vect | reversed, my_fun());

Answer 4

How about making the loop work from 0 to vector.size, but read the array in the direction you need.

int idx;
for (int i =0; i < vec.size(); i ++)
{
   if (undoing) // assuming going forward
     idx = i;
   else // going backwards
     idx = vec.size() - i - 1;

  const CType &foo = vec[idx];
}