min_element/max_element

 #include <algorithm>
    forward_iterator min_element( forward_iterator start, forward_iterator end );
    forward_iterator min_element( forward_iterator start, forward_iterator end, BinPred p );

The min_element() function returns an iterator to the smallest element in the range [start,end).

If the binary predicate p is given, then it will be used instead of the < operator to determine the smallest element.

 

Example
// min_element/max_element
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;

bool myfn(int i, int j) { return i<j; }

struct myclass {
  bool operator() (int i,int j) { return i<j; }
} myobj;

int main () {
  int myints[] = {3,7,2,5,6,4,9};

  // using default comparison:
  cout << "The smallest element is " << *min_element(myints,myints+7) << endl;
  cout << "The largest element is " << *max_element(myints,myints+7) << endl;

  // using function myfn as comp:
  cout << "The smallest element is " << *min_element(myints,myints+7,myfn) << endl;
  cout << "The largest element is " << *max_element(myints,myints+7,myfn) << endl;

  // using object myobj as comp:
  cout << "The smallest element is " << *min_element(myints,myints+7,myobj) << endl;
  cout << "The largest element is " << *max_element(myints,myints+7,myobj) << endl;

  return 0;
}


The example illustrates how the comparison object can be either a function or an object whose class defines the operator() member. In this case both have been defined to perform a standard less-than comparison.
Output:
The smallest element is 2The largest element is 9The smallest element is 2The largest element is 9The smallest element is 2The largest element is 9