std::set_symmetric_difference

Defined in header `<algorithm>`
	(1)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt > OutputIt set_symmetric_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first );		(until C++20)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt > constexpr OutputIt set_symmetric_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first );		(since C++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3 > ForwardIt3 set_symmetric_difference( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first );	(2)	(since C++17)
	(3)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare > OutputIt set_symmetric_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );		(until C++20)
template< class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare > constexpr OutputIt set_symmetric_difference( InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp );		(since C++20)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt1, class ForwardIt2, class ForwardIt3, class Compare > ForwardIt3 set_symmetric_difference( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt1 first1, ForwardIt1 last1, ForwardIt2 first2, ForwardIt2 last2, ForwardIt3 d_first, Compare comp );	(4)	(since C++17)

Computes symmetric difference of two sorted ranges: the elements that are found in either of the ranges, but not in both of them are copied to the range beginning at d_first. The resulting range is also sorted.

If some element is found m times in [first1, last1) and n times in [first2, last2), it will be copied to d_first exactly std::abs(m-n) times. If m>n, then the last m-n of those elements are copied from [first1,last1), otherwise the last n-m elements are copied from [first2,last2). The resulting range cannot overlap with either of the input ranges.

1) Elements are compared using operator< and the ranges must be sorted with respect to the same.

3) Elements are compared using the given binary comparison function comp and the ranges must be sorted with respect to the same.

2,4) Same as (1,3), 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

first1, last1	-	the first sorted range of elements
first2, last2	-	the second sorted range of elements
policy	-	the execution policy to use. See execution policy for details.
comp	-	comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns `true` if the first argument is less than (i.e. is ordered before) the second. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: `bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b);` While the signature does not need to have `const &`, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) `Type1` and `Type2` regardless of value category (thus, `Type1 &` is not allowed, nor is `Type1` unless for `Type1` a move is equivalent to a copy (since C++11)). The types `Type1` and `Type2` must be such that objects of types `InputIt1` and `InputIt2` can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both `Type1` and `Type2`.
Type requirements
-`InputIt1, InputIt2` must meet the requirements of LegacyInputIterator.
-`OutputIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyOutputIterator.
-`ForwardIt1, ForwardIt2, ForwardIt3` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.

Return value

Iterator past the end of the constructed range.

Complexity

At most 2·(N₁+N₂-1) comparisons, where N₁ = std::distance(first1, last1) and N₂ = std::distance(first2, last2).

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 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

First version
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt> OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first) { while (first1 != last1) { if (first2 == last2) return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first); if (first1 < first2) { d_first++ = first1++; } else { if (first2 < first1) { d_first++ = first2; } else { ++first1; } ++first2; } } return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first); }
Second version
template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt, class Compare> OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1, InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2, OutputIt d_first, Compare comp) { while (first1 != last1) { if (first2 == last2) return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first); if (comp(first1, first2)) { d_first++ = first1++; } else { if (comp(first2, first1)) { d_first++ = first2; } else { ++first1; } ++first2; } } return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first); }

First version

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2, class OutputIt>
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                  InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                                  OutputIt d_first)
{
    while (first1 != last1) {
        if (first2 == last2) return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (*first1 < *first2) {
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        } else {
            if (*first2 < *first1) {
                *d_first++ = *first2;
            } else {
                ++first1;
            }
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}

Second version

template<class InputIt1, class InputIt2,
         class OutputIt, class Compare>
OutputIt set_symmetric_difference(InputIt1 first1, InputIt1 last1,
                                  InputIt2 first2, InputIt2 last2,
                                  OutputIt d_first, Compare comp)
{
    while (first1 != last1) {
        if (first2 == last2) return std::copy(first1, last1, d_first);
 
        if (comp(*first1, *first2)) {
            *d_first++ = *first1++;
        } else {
            if (comp(*first2, *first1)) {
                *d_first++ = *first2;
            } else {
                ++first1;
            }
            ++first2;
        }
    }
    return std::copy(first2, last2, d_first);
}

Example

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <iterator>
int main()
{
    std::vector<int> v1{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8     };
    std::vector<int> v2{        5,  7,  9,10};
    std::sort(v1.begin(), v1.end());
    std::sort(v2.begin(), v2.end());
 
    std::vector<int> v_symDifference;
 
    std::set_symmetric_difference(
        v1.begin(), v1.end(),
        v2.begin(), v2.end(),
        std::back_inserter(v_symDifference));
 
    for(int n : v_symDifference)
        std::cout << n << ' ';
}

Output:

1 2 3 4 6 8 9 10

includes	returns true if one set is a subset of another (function template)
set_difference	computes the difference between two sets (function template)
set_union	computes the union of two sets (function template)
set_intersection	computes the intersection of two sets (function template)