returning a STL from function

[sangham]

Friends can i return a list or a map from a function???

[Nick Evan]

Friends can i return a list or a map from a function???

Why don't you just try it?

map<int, string> Foo(void)
{
    map<int, string> Bar;
    return Bar;
}

int main()
{
   map<int, string> mp = Foo();
   return 0;
}

Works? Question answered :)

[sangham]

Thanks a lot...it worked

[Ancient Dragon]

The problem with doing that is the program must duplicate the map when returning it, which can be very costly in both time and resources. A better solution is for main() to create the map object, pass it to Foo() by reference, and then Foo() can fill it in

void Foo(map<int, string>& Bar)
{
    // do something with Bar not shown
}

int main()
{
   map<int, string> mp;
   Foo(mp);
   return 0;
}