第一次注意到这个问题。
cppreference 上的条目:
lower_bound
upper_bound
C++17 草案 N4659
lower_bound
template<class ForwardIterator, class T>
ForwardIterator
lower_bound(ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last, const T& value);
template<class ForwardIterator, class T, class Compare>
ForwardIterator
lower_bound(ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last, const T& value, Compare comp);
Requires: The elements e
of [first, last)
shall be partitioned with respect to the expression e < value
or comp(e, value)
.
Returns: The furthermost iterator i
in the range [first, last]
such that for every iterator j
in the
range [first, i)
the following corresponding conditions hold: *j < value
or comp(*j, value) != false
.
upper_bound
template<class ForwardIterator, class T>
ForwardIterator
upper_bound(ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last, const T& value);
template<class ForwardIterator, class T, class Compare>
ForwardIterator
upper_bound(ForwardIterator first, ForwardIterator last, const T& value, Compare comp);
Requires: The elements e
of [first, last)
shall be partitioned with respect to the expression !(value < e)
or !comp(value, e)
.
Returns: The furthermost iterator i
in the range [first, last]
such that for every iterator j
in the
range [first, i)
the following corresponding conditions hold: !(value < *j)
or comp(value, *j) == false
.
分析
为何如此设计?
这是有原因的。lower_bound
和 upper_bound
的比较函数都只能判定严格偏序。也就是说 comp(value, j)
只能判定 value < *j
,而不能判定 value == *j
和 *j < value
。
如果 upper_bound
的比较函数只能判定 *j < value
,那么对于一个有序的全序序列,它就无法二分找出大于 value
的第一个元素所在的位置(iterator)。原因在于对于任意 iterator j
,判定 *j > value
根本不可能。