Iterators

Overview

Iterators are a generalization of pointers, which means that we can have access to a sequence elements without knowing the element type or the position.

An iterator is an object that can iterate or navigate or traverse over elements in the containers that represent data structures.

There are five iterator categories according to operations defined on them.

Section Pages

Input Iterator

Input iterator reads forward and is provided by istream

Output Iterator

Output iterator steps forward with write access and is provided by ostream and inserter

Forward Iterator

Forward iterator may store and retrieve values

Bidirectional Iterator

Bidirectional iterator performs forward and backward moving

Random Access Iterator

Random access iterator allows you to access elements in any order