map::insert()
will only create:
using std::cout; using std::endl;
typedef std::map<int, std::string> MyMap;
MyMap map;
// ...
std::pair<MyMap::iterator, bool> res = map.insert(std::make_pair(key,value));
if ( ! res.second ) {
cout << "key " << key << " already exists "
<< " with value " << (res.first)->second << endl;
} else {
cout << "created key " << key << " with value " << value << endl;
}
For most of my apps, I usually don't care if I'm creating or replacing, so I use the easier to read map[key] = value
.