function template
<algorithm>

std::find_first_of

equality (1)
template <class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2>   ForwardIterator1 find_first_of (ForwardIterator1 first1, ForwardIterator1 last1,                                   ForwardIterator2 first2, ForwardIterator2 last2);
predicate (2)
template <class ForwardIterator1, class ForwardIterator2, class BinaryPredicate>   ForwardIterator1 find_first_of (ForwardIterator1 first1, ForwardIterator1 last1,                                   ForwardIterator2 first2, ForwardIterator2 last2,                                   BinaryPredicate pred);
equality (1)
template <class InputIterator, class ForwardIterator>   InputIterator find_first_of (InputIterator first1, InputIterator last1,                                   ForwardIterator first2, ForwardIterator last2);
predicate (2)
template <class InputIterator, class ForwardIterator, class BinaryPredicate>   InputIterator find_first_of (InputIterator first1, InputIterator last1,                                   ForwardIterator first2, ForwardIterator last2,                                   BinaryPredicate pred);
Find element from set in range
Returns an iterator to the first element in the range [first1,last1) that matches any of the elements in [first2,last2). If no such element is found, the function returns last1.

The elements in [first1,last1) are sequentially compared to each of the values in [first2,last2) using operator== (or pred, in version (2)), until a pair matches.

The behavior of this function template is equivalent to:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
template<class InputIterator, class ForwardIterator>
  InputIterator find_first_of ( InputIterator first1, InputIterator last1,
                                ForwardIterator first2, ForwardIterator last2)
{
  while (first1!=last1) {
    for (ForwardIterator it=first2; it!=last2; ++it) {
      if (*it==*first1)          // or: if (pred(*it,*first)) for version (2)
        return first1;
    }
    ++first1;
  }
  return last1;
}

Parameters

first1, last1
Forward iterators to the initial and final positions of the searched sequence. The range used is [first1,last1), which contains all the elements between first1 and last1, including the element pointed by first1 but not the element pointed by last1.
Input iterators to the initial and final positions of the searched sequence. The range used is [first1,last1), which contains all the elements between first1 and last1, including the element pointed by first1 but not the element pointed by last1.
first2, last2
Forward iterators to the initial and final positions of the element values to be searched for. The range used is [first2,last2).
For (1), the elements in both ranges shall be of types comparable using operator== (with the elements of the first range as left-hand side operands, and those of the second as right-hand side operands).
pred
Binary function that accepts two elements as arguments (one of each of the two sequences, in the same order), and returns a value convertible to bool. The value returned indicates whether the elements are considered to match in the context of this function.
The function shall not modify any of its arguments.
This can either be a function pointer or a function object.

Return value

An iterator to the first element in [first1,last1) that is part of [first2,last2).
If no matches are found, the function returns last1.
If [first2,last2) is an empty range, the result is unspecified.
If [first2,last2) is an empty range, the function returns last1.

Example

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
// find_first_of example
#include <iostream>     // std::cout
#include <algorithm>    // std::find_first_of
#include <vector>       // std::vector
#include <cctype>       // std::tolower

bool comp_case_insensitive (char c1, char c2) {
  return (std::tolower(c1)==std::tolower(c2));
}

int main () {
  int mychars[] = {'a','b','c','A','B','C'};
  std::vector<char> haystack (mychars,mychars+6);
  std::vector<char>::iterator it;

  int needle[] = {'A','B','C'};

  // using default comparison:
  it = find_first_of (haystack.begin(), haystack.end(), needle, needle+3);

  if (it!=haystack.end())
    std::cout << "The first match is: " << *it << '\n';

  // using predicate comparison:
  it = find_first_of (haystack.begin(), haystack.end(),
                      needle, needle+3, comp_case_insensitive);

  if (it!=haystack.end())
    std::cout << "The first match is: " << *it << '\n';

  return 0;
}

Output:
The first match is: A
The first match is: a


Complexity

Up to linear in count1*count2 (where countX is the distance between firstX and lastX): Compares elements until a match is found.

Data races

Some (or all) of the objects in both ranges are accessed (once at most in the case of [first1,last1), and possibly more than once in [first2,last2)).

Exceptions

Throws if any element comparison (or pred) throws or if any of the operations on iterators throws.
Note that invalid arguments cause undefined behavior.

See also