# std::min_element

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | algorithm

Defined in header `<algorithm>` |  |
| (1) |
template< class ForwardIt > ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last ); |  | (until C++17)
template< class ForwardIt > constexpr ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last ); |  | (since C++17)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt > ForwardIt min_element( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last ); | (2) | (since C++17)
| (3) |
template< class ForwardIt, class Compare > ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp ); |  | (until C++17)
template< class ForwardIt, class Compare > constexpr ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp ); |  | (since C++17)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt, class Compare > ForwardIt min_element( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp ); | (4) | (since C++17)

Finds the smallest element in the range `[`first`,` last`)`.

1) Elements are compared using `operator<`.
3) Elements are compared using the given binary comparison function comp.
2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to policy. These overloads do not participate in overload resolution unless

std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true. | (until C++20)
std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true. | (since C++20)

### Parameters

first, last | - | forward iterators defining the range to examine
policy | - | the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
comp | - | comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns true if `a` is less than `b`. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1& a, const Type2& b); While the signature does not need to have const&, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) `Type1` and `Type2` regardless of value category (thus, Type1& is not allowed, nor is Type1 unless for `Type1` a move is equivalent to a copy (since C++11)). The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type ForwardIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both of them.
Type requirements
- `ForwardIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.

### Return value

Iterator to the smallest element in the range `[`first`,` last`)`. If several elements in the range are equivalent to the smallest element, returns the iterator to the first such element. Returns last if the range is empty.

### Complexity

Exactly max(N-1,0) comparisons, where N = std::distance(first, last).

### Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named `ExecutionPolicy` report errors as follows:

- If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and `ExecutionPolicy` is one of the standard policies, std::terminate is called. For any other `ExecutionPolicy`, the behavior is implementation-defined.
- If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

### Possible implementation

min_element (1)
    template<class ForwardIt>
    ForwardIt min_element(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last)
    {
        if (first == last)
            return last;

        ForwardIt smallest = first;
        ++first;

        for (; first != last; ++first)
            if (*first < *smallest)
                smallest = first;

        return smallest;
    }
min_element (3)
    template<class ForwardIt, class Compare>
    ForwardIt min_element(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp)
    {
        if (first == last)
            return last;

        ForwardIt smallest = first;
        ++first;

        for (; first != last; ++first)
            if (comp(*first, *smallest))
                smallest = first;

        return smallest;
    }

### Example

Run this code

    #include <algorithm>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <vector>

    int main()
    {
        std::vector<int> v {3, 1, -4, 1, 5, 9};

        std::vector<int>::iterator result = std::min_element(v.begin(), v.end());
        std::cout << "min element has value " << *result << " and index ["
                  << std::distance(v.begin(), result) << "]\n";
    }

Output:

    min element has value -4 and index [2]

### Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR | Applied to | Behavior as published | Correct behavior
--- | --- | --- | ---
LWG 212 | C++98 | the return value was not specified if first == last | returns last in this case

### See also

max_element | returns the largest element in a range (function template)
minmax_element (C++11) | returns the smallest and the largest elements in a range (function template)
min | returns the smaller of the given values (function template)
ranges::min_element (C++20) | returns the smallest element in a range (niebloid)

Retrieved from "https://en.cppreference.com/mwiki/index.php?title=cpp/algorithm/min_element&oldid=149927"