How does this work?...assignment using vectors...

..." A vector is a single object that can be assigned. For example:

Code:

---

void f(vector<Entry>& v)
{
        vector<Entry> v2 = phone_book;
        v = v2;
        //...
}

---

... " Assigning a vector involves copying its elements. Thus, after the initialization and assignment in
f(), v and v2 each holds a seperate copy of every Entry in the phone book. When a vector holds many
elements, such innocent-looking assignments and initialization can be prohibihtively expensive. Where
copying is indesirable, refrences or pointers should be used."

a vector is a class that extends the native array container to include things like self expansion, etc. With arrays, you cannot assign one to another, but with vectors you can, because the assignment operator has been overloaded to implement it. The implementation is probably something like:

find length of source vector.
make sure there is adequate length in destination vector
use a loop to assign each element of source vector into destination vector

This is pretty much how you would copy one array into another, except it is all written out for you already in the vector class' assignment operator.