std::copy_n

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
	(1)
template< class InputIt, class Size, class OutputIt > OutputIt copy_n( InputIt first, Size count, OutputIt result );		(since C++11) (until C++20)
template< class InputIt, class Size, class OutputIt > constexpr OutputIt copy_n( InputIt first, Size count, OutputIt result );		(since C++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class Size, class ForwardIt2 > ForwardIt2 copy_n( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first, Size count, ForwardIt2 result );	(2)	(since C++17)

1) Copies exactly count values from the range beginning at first to the range beginning at result. Formally, for each non-negative integer i < n, performs *(result + i) = *(first + i). Overlap of ranges is not permitted.

2) Same as (1), but executed according to policy. This overload only participates in overload resolution if std::is_execution_policy_v<std::decay_t<ExecutionPolicy>> is true

Parameters

first	-	the beginning of the range of elements to copy from
count	-	number of the elements to copy
result	-	the beginning of the destination range
policy	-	the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
Type requirements
-`InputIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyInputIterator.
-`OutputIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyOutputIterator.
-`ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.

Return value

Iterator in the destination range, pointing past the last element copied if count>0 or result otherwise.

Complexity

Exactly count assignments, if count>0.

Exceptions

The overload with a template parameter named ExecutionPolicy reports 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 any other ExecutionPolicy, the behavior is implementation-defined.
If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

Possible implementation

template< class InputIt, class Size, class OutputIt>
OutputIt copy_n(InputIt first, Size count, OutputIt result)
{
    if (count > 0) {
        *result++ = *first;
        for (Size i = 1; i < count; ++i) {
            *result++ = *++first;
        }
    }
    return result;
}

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
 
int main()
{
    std::string in = "1234567890";
    std::string out;
 
    std::copy_n(in.begin(), 4, std::back_inserter(out));
    std::cout << out << '\n';
}

Output: