Thread: STL iterator "de-referencing" question

vectorname.end() points the past-the-end element of the vector. So basically, you should get undefined behavior. It's have the same behavior as: int v[5], then use v[5].

The correct one is:

Code:

return *(vector_name.end()-1);

Or is there something different about iterators? I know you can use them by just dereferencing them as if they were pointers...but I've heard from a few people that they're not "really" pointers..but they act it, can anybody give me some insight here? I'd hate to make the same mistake again .

It depends on what kind of iterators you're using. Random Access Iterators, which vector class use, is just like the usual pointer. But if you have like input iterator or bidirectional iterator, then they're not really the same because for those, they can't do some pointer arithmatics with them.

It would be easier to write:

Code:

return vector_name.back();