std::min

 

C++

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Regular expressions library (C++11)

Atomic operations library (C++11)

Thread support library (C++11)

 

Algorithm library

Functions
Non-modifying sequence operations
all_of any_of none_of (C++11) (C++11) (C++11) for_each count count_if mismatch equal	find find_if find_if_not (C++11) find_end find_first_of adjacent_find search search_n
Modifying sequence operations
copy copy_if (C++11) copy_n (C++11) copy_backward move (C++11) move_backward (C++11) fill fill_n transform generate generate_n remove remove_if remove_copy remove_copy_if	replace replace_if replace_copy replace_copy_if swap swap_ranges iter_swap reverse reverse_copy rotate rotate_copy random_shuffle shuffle   (C++11) unique unique_copy
Partitioning operations
is_partitioned (C++11) partition partition_copy (C++11)	stable_partition partition_point (C++11)
Sorting operations (on sorted ranges)
is_sorted (C++11) is_sorted_until (C++11) sort	partial_sort partial_sort_copy stable_sort nth_element
Binary search operations (on sorted ranges)
lower_bound upper_bound	binary_search equal_range
Set operations (on sorted ranges)
merge inplace_merge includes	set_difference set_intersection set_symmetric_difference set_union
Heap operations
is_heap is_heap_until (C++11) make_heap	push_heap pop_heap sort_heap
Minimum/maximum operations
max max_element min min_element minmax (C++11) minmax_element (C++11)	lexicographical_compare is_permutation (C++11) next_permutation prev_permutation
Numeric operations
iota (C++11) accumulate inner_product	adjacent_difference partial_sum
C library
qsort	bsearch

 

Defined in header <algorithm>
template< class T > const T& min( const T& a, const T& b );	(1)
template< class T, class Compare > const T& min( const T& a, const T& b, Compare comp );	(2)
template< class T > T min( std::initializer_list<T> ilist);	(3)	(since C++11)
template< class T, class Compare > T min( std::initializer_list<T> ilist, Compare comp );	(4)	(since C++11)

1-2) Returns the smaller of the two values.

3-4) Returns the smallest of the values in initializer list ilist.

The (1,3) versions use operator< to compare the values, the (2,4) versions use the given comparison function comp.

Parameters

a, b	-	the values to compare
ilist	-	initializer list with the values to compare
cmp	-	comparison function which returns ​true if if a is less than b. The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following: bool cmp(const Type1 &a, const Type2 &b); The signature does not need to have const &, but the function must not modify the objects passed to it. The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type T can be implicitly converted to both of them. ​
Type requirements
- T must meet the requirements of LessThanComparable. for the overloads (1) and (3)
- T must meet the requirements of CopyConstructible. for the overloads (3) and (4)

Return value

1-2) The smaller of a and b. If the values are equivalent, returns a.

3-4) The smallest value in ilist. If several values are equivalent to the smallest, returns the leftmost such value.

Complexity

1-2) Constant

3-4) Linear in ilist.size()

Possible implementation

First version
template<class T> const T& min(const T& a, const T& b) { return (b < a) ? b : a; }
Second version
template<class T, class Compare> const T& min(const T& a, const T& b, Compare comp) { return (comp(b, a)) ? b : a; }
Third version
template<class T> T min( std::initializer_list<T> ilist) { return *std::min_element(ilist.begin(), ilist.end()); }
Fourth version
template<class T, class Compare> T min(std::initializer_list<T> ilist, Compare comp) { return *std::min_element(ilist.begin(), ilist.end(), comp); }

Example

run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <string> 
int main()
{
    std::cout << "smaller of 1 and 9999: " << std::min(1, 9999) << '\n'
              << "smaller of 'a', and 'b': " << std::min('a', 'b') << '\n'
              << "shortest of \"foo\", \"bar\", and \"hello\": " <<
                  std::min( { "foo", "bar", "hello" },
                            [](const std::string& s1, const std::string& s2) {
                                 return s1.size() < s2.size();
                             }) << '\n';
}

Output:

smaller of 1 and 9999: 1
smaller of 'a', and 'b': a
shortest of "foo", "bar", and "hello": foo

See also

max	returns the larger of two elements (function template)
minmax (C++11)	returns the larger and the smaller of two elements (function template)
min_element	returns the smallest element in a range (function template)