std::count, std::count_if

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
template< class InputIt, class T > typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type count( InputIt first, InputIt last, const T &value );	(1)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class InputIt, class T > typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type count( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, InputIt first, InputIt last, const T &value );	(2)	(since C++17)
template< class InputIt, class UnaryPredicate > typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type count_if( InputIt first, InputIt last, UnaryPredicate p );	(3)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class InputIt, class UnaryPredicate > typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type count_if( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, InputIt first, InputIt last, UnaryPredicate p );	(4)	(since C++17)

Returns the number of elements in the range [first, last) satisfying specific criteria.

1) counts the elements that are equal to value.

3) counts elements for which predicate p returns true.

2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to policy. These overloads do not participate in overload resolution unless std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true

first, last	-	the range of elements to examine
value	-	the value to search for
policy	-	the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
p	-	unary predicate which returns true for the required elements. The signature of the predicate function should be equivalent to the following: bool pred(const Type &a); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it. The type Type must be such that an object of type InputIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to Type.
Type requirements
- `InputIt` must meet the requirements of `InputIterator`.

[edit] Return value

number of elements satisfying the condition.

[edit] Complexity

exactly last - first comparisons / applications of the predicate

[edit] 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,

if policy is std::parallel_vector_execution_policy, std::terminate is called
if policy is std::sequential_execution_policy or std::parallel_execution_policy, the algorithm exits with an std::exception_list containing all uncaught exceptions. If there was only one uncaught exception, the algorithm may rethrow it without wrapping in std::exception_list. It is unspecified how much work the algorithm will perform before returning after the first exception was encountered.
if policy is some other type, the behavior is implementation-defined

If the algorithm fails to allocate memory (either for itself or to construct an std::exception_list when handling a user exception), std::bad_alloc is thrown.

[edit] Notes

For the number of elements in the range [first, last) without any additional criteria, see std::distance.

[edit] Possible implementation

First version

template<class InputIt, class T>
typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type
    count(InputIt first, InputIt last, const T& value)
{
    typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type ret = 0;
    for (; first != last; ++first) {
        if (*first == value) {
            ret++;
        }
    }
    return ret;
}

Second version

template<class InputIt, class UnaryPredicate>
typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type
    count_if(InputIt first, InputIt last, UnaryPredicate p)
{
    typename iterator_traits<InputIt>::difference_type ret = 0;
    for (; first != last; ++first) {
        if (p(*first)) {
            ret++;
        }
    }
    return ret;
}

[edit] Example

The following code uses count to determine how many integers in a std::vector match a target value.

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
 
int main()
{
    int data[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 };
    std::vector<int> v(data, data+10);
 
    int target1 = 3;
    int target2 = 5;
    int num_items1 = std::count(v.begin(), v.end(), target1);
    int num_items2 = std::count(v.begin(), v.end(), target2);
 
    std::cout << "number: " << target1 << " count: " << num_items1 << '\n';
    std::cout << "number: " << target2 << " count: " << num_items2 << '\n';
}

Output:

number: 3 count: 2
number: 5 count: 0

This example uses a lambda expression to count elements divisible by 3.