std::uninitialized_value_construct_n() algorithm

since C++17

// (1)
template< class ForwardIt, class Size >
ForwardIt uninitialized_value_construct_n( ForwardIt first, Size n );

// (2)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt, class Size >
ForwardIt uninitialized_value_construct_n( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt first, Size n );

• (1) Constructs n objects of type typename iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type in the uninitialized storage starting at first by value-initialization, as if by:

  for (; n > 0; (void) ++first, --n)
      ::new (static_cast<void*>(std::addressof(*first)))
          typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type();
  caution

  If an exception is thrown during the initialization, the objects already constructed are destroyed in an unspecified order.

• (2) Same as (1), but executed according to policy.

Overload Resolution

These overloads participate in overload resolution only if std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>>  (until C++20) std::is_execution_policy_v<std::remove_cvref_t<ExecutionPolicy>>  (since C++20) is true.

Parameters

first last	The range of elements to initialize.
n	The number of elements to initialize.
policy	The execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.

Type requirements

ForwardIt

LegacyForwardIterator

No increment, assignment, comparison, or indirection through valid instances of NoThrowForwardIt may throw exceptions.

Return value

The end of the range of objects (i.e., std::next(first, n)).

Complexity

Linear in n.

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 none other ExecutionPolicy, the behavior is implementation-defined.
• If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

Possible implementation

uninitialized_value_construct_n(1)

template<class ForwardIt, class Size>
ForwardIt uninitialized_value_construct_n(ForwardIt first, Size n)
{
    using T = typename std::iterator_traits<ForwardIt>::value_type;
    ForwardIt current = first;
    try
    {
        for (; n > 0 ; (void) ++current, --n)
            ::new (const_cast<void*>(static_cast<const volatile void*>(
                std::addressof(*current)))) T();
        return current;
    }
    catch (...)
    {
        std::destroy(first, current);
        throw;
    }
}

Examples

Main.cpp

#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string>

int main()
{
    struct S { std::string m{"Default value"}; };

    constexpr int n{3};
    alignas(alignof(S)) unsigned char mem[n * sizeof(S)];

    try
    {
        auto first{reinterpret_cast<S*>(mem)};
        auto last = std::uninitialized_value_construct_n(first, n);

        for (auto it{first}; it != last; ++it)
            std::cout << it->m << '\n';

        std::destroy(first, last);
    }
    catch (...)
    {
        std::cout << "Exception!\n";
    }

    // Notice that for "trivial types" the uninitialized_value_construct_n
    // zero-initializes the given uninitialized memory area.
    int v[]{1, 2, 3, 4};
    for (const int i : v)
        std::cout << i << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
    std::uninitialized_value_construct_n(std::begin(v), std::size(v));
    for (const int i : v)
        std::cout << i << ' ';
    std::cout << '\n';
}

Output

Default value
Default value
Default value
1 2 3 4
0 0 0 0