std::integer_sequence

Introduction#

The class template std::integer_sequence<Type, Values...> represents a sequence of values of type Type where Type is one of the built-in integer types. These sequences are used when implementing class or function templates which benefit from positional access. The standard library also contains “factory” types which create ascending sequences of integer values just from the number of elements.

Turn a std::tuple<T…> into function parameters

A std::tuple<T...> can be used to pass multiple values around. For example, it could be used to store a sequence of parameters into some form of a queue. When processing such a tuple its elements need to be turned into function call arguments:

#include <array>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <tuple>
#include <utility>

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Example functions to be called:
void f(int i, std::string const& s) {
    std::cout << "f(" << i << ", " << s << ")\n";
}
void f(int i, double d, std::string const& s) {
    std::cout << "f(" << i << ", " << d << ", " << s << ")\n";
}
void f(char c, int i, double d, std::string const& s) {
    std::cout << "f(" << c << ", " << i << ", " << d << ", " << s << ")\n";
}
void f(int i, int j, int k) {
    std::cout << "f(" << i << ", " << j << ", " << k << ")\n";
}

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// The actual function expanding the tuple:
template <typename Tuple, std::size_t... I>
void process(Tuple const& tuple, std::index_sequence<I...>) {
    f(std::get<I>(tuple)...);
}

// The interface to call. Sadly, it needs to dispatch to another function
// to deduce the sequence of indices created from std::make_index_sequence<N>
template <typename Tuple>
void process(Tuple const& tuple) {
    process(tuple, std::make_index_sequence<std::tuple_size<Tuple>::value>());
}

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
int main() {
    process(std::make_tuple(1, 3.14, std::string("foo")));
    process(std::make_tuple('a', 2, 2.71, std::string("bar")));
    process(std::make_pair(3, std::string("pair")));
    process(std::array<int, 3>{ 1, 2, 3 });
}

As long as a class supports std::get<I>(object) and std::tuple_size<T>::value it can be expanded with the above process() function. The function itself is entirely independent of the number of arguments.

Create a parameter pack consisting of integers

std::integer_sequence itself is about holding a sequence of integers which can be turned into a parameter pack. Its primary value is the possibility to create “factory” class templates creating these sequences:

#include <iostream>
#include <initializer_list>
#include <utility>

template <typename T, T... I>
void print_sequence(std::integer_sequence<T, I...>) {
    std::initializer_list<bool>{ bool(std::cout << I << ' ')... };
    std::cout << '\n';
}

template <int Offset, typename T, T... I>
void print_offset_sequence(std::integer_sequence<T, I...>) {
    print_sequence(std::integer_sequence<T, T(I + Offset)...>());
}

int main() {
    // explicitly specify sequences:
    print_sequence(std::integer_sequence<int, 1, 2, 3>());
    print_sequence(std::integer_sequence<char, 'f', 'o', 'o'>());

    // generate sequences:
    print_sequence(std::make_index_sequence<10>());
    print_sequence(std::make_integer_sequence<short, 10>());
    print_offset_sequence<'A'>(std::make_integer_sequence<char, 26>());
}

The print_sequence() function template uses an std::initializer_list<bool> when expanding the integer sequence to guarantee the order of evaluation and not creating an unused [array] variable.

Turn a sequence of indices into copies of an element

Expanding the parameter pack of indices in a comma expression with a value creates a copy of the value for each of the indices. Sadly, gcc and clang think the index has no effect and warn about it (gcc can be silenced by casting the index to void):

#include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>
#include <utility>

template <typename T, std::size_t... I>
std::array<T, sizeof...(I)> make_array(T const& value, std::index_sequence<I...>) {
    return std::array<T, sizeof...(I)>{ (I, value)... };
}

template <int N, typename T>
std::array<T, N> make_array(T const& value) {
    return make_array(value, std::make_index_sequence<N>());
}

int main() {
    auto array = make_array<20>(std::string("value"));
    std::copy(array.begin(), array.end(),
              std::ostream_iterator<std::string>(std::cout, " "));
    std::cout << "\n";
}