std::vector<T,Allocator>::data

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros (C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library (C++20)

Metaprogramming library (C++11)

Diagnostics library

General utilities library

Strings library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library (C++20)

Algorithms library

Numerics library

Localizations library

Input/output library

Filesystem library (C++17)

Regular expressions library (C++11)

Concurrency support library (C++11)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Containers library

Sequence

array (C++11)

vector

deque

forward_list (C++11)

list

Associative

set

multiset

map

multimap

Unordered associative

unordered_set (C++11)

unordered_multiset (C++11)

unordered_map (C++11)

unordered_multimap (C++11)

Adaptors

stack

queue

priority_queue

Views

span (C++20)

 

std::vector

Member functions

vector::vector

vector::~vector

vector::operator=

vector::assign

vector::get_allocator

Element access

vector::at

vector::operator[]

vector::front

vector::back

vector::data

Iterators

vector::beginvector::cbegin (C++11)

vector::endvector::cend (C++11)

vector::rbeginvector::crbegin (C++11)

vector::rendvector::crend (C++11)

Capacity

vector::empty

vector::size

vector::max_size

vector::reserve

vector::capacity

vector::shrink_to_fit (C++11)

Modifiers

vector::clear

vector::insert

vector::emplace (C++11)

vector::erase

vector::push_back

vector::emplace_back (C++11)

vector::pop_back

vector::resize

vector::swap

Non-member functions

std::swap

eraseerase_if (C++20)(C++20)

operator==operator!=operator<operator>operator<=operator>=operator<=> (until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(until C++20)(C++20)

Deduction guides(C++17)

 

T* data();		(until C++11)
T* data() noexcept;		(since C++11) (until C++20)
constexpr T* data() noexcept;		(since C++20)
const T* data() const;		(until C++11)
const T* data() const noexcept;		(since C++11) (until C++20)
constexpr const T* data() const noexcept;		(since C++20)

Returns pointer to the underlying array serving as element storage. The pointer is such that range [data(); data() + size()) is always a valid range, even if the container is empty (data() is not dereferenceable in that case).

Parameters

(none)

Return value

Pointer to the underlying element storage. For non-empty containers, the returned pointer compares equal to the address of the first element.

Complexity

Constant.

Notes

If size() is 0, data() may or may not return a null pointer.

Example

Run this code

#include <cstddef>
#include <iostream>
#include <span>
#include <vector>
 
void pointer_func(const int* p, std::size_t size)
{
    std::cout << "data = ";
    for (std::size_t i = 0; i < size; ++i)
        std::cout << p[i] << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}
 
void span_func(std::span<const int> data) // since C++20
{
    std::cout << "data = ";
    for (const int e : data)
        std::cout << e << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}
 
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> container { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
 
    // Prefer container.data() over &container[0]
    pointer_func(container.data(), container.size());
 
    // std::span (C++20) is a safer alternative to separated pointer/size.
    span_func({container.data(), container.size()});
}

Output:

data = 1 2 3 4 
data = 1 2 3 4

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 464	C++98	vector did not have this member function	added

See also

front	access the first element (public member function)
back	access the last element (public member function)
size	returns the number of elements (public member function)
span (C++20)	a non-owning view over a contiguous sequence of objects (class template)
data (C++17)	obtains the pointer to the underlying array (function template)