How can you iterate over the elements of an std::tuple?

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How can I iterate over a tuple (using C++11)? I tried the following:

for(int i=0; i<std::tuple_size<T...>::value; ++i) 
  std::get<i>(my_tuple).do_sth();

but this doesn't work:

Error 1: sorry, unimplemented: cannot expand ‘Listener ...’ into a fixed-length argument list.
Error 2: i cannot appear in a constant expression.

So, how do I correctly iterate over the elements of a tuple?

21 Answers

In C++17, you can use std::apply with fold expression:

std::apply([](auto&&... args) {((/* args.dosomething() */), ...);}, the_tuple);

A complete example for printing a tuple:

#include <tuple>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::tuple t{42, 'a', 4.2}; // Another C++17 feature: class template argument deduction
    std::apply([](auto&&... args) {((std::cout << args << '\n'), ...);}, t);
}

[Online Example on Coliru]

This solution solves the issue of evaluation order in M. Alaggan's answer.

C++ is introducing expansion statements for this purpose. They were originally on track for C++20 but narrowly missed the cut due to a lack of time for language wording review (see here and here).

The currently agreed syntax (see the links above) is:

{
    auto tup = std::make_tuple(0, 'a', 3.14);
    template for (auto elem : tup)
        std::cout << elem << std::endl;
}

Boost.Fusion is a possibility:

Untested example:

struct DoSomething
{
    template<typename T>
    void operator()(T& t) const
    {
        t.do_sth();
    }
};

tuple<....> t = ...;
boost::fusion::for_each(t, DoSomething());

A more simple, intuitive and compiler-friendly way of doing this in C++17, using if constexpr:

// prints every element of a tuple
template<size_t I = 0, typename... Tp>
void print(std::tuple<Tp...>& t) {
    std::cout << std::get<I>(t) << " ";
    // do things
    if constexpr(I+1 != sizeof...(Tp))
        print<I+1>(t);
}

This is compile-time recursion, similar to the one presented by @emsr. But this doesn't use SFINAE so (I think) it is more compiler-friendly.

You need to use template metaprogramming, here shown with Boost.Tuple:

#include <boost/tuple/tuple.hpp>
#include <iostream>

template <typename T_Tuple, size_t size>
struct print_tuple_helper {
    static std::ostream & print( std::ostream & s, const T_Tuple & t ) {
        return print_tuple_helper<T_Tuple,size-1>::print( s, t ) << boost::get<size-1>( t );
    }
};

template <typename T_Tuple>
struct print_tuple_helper<T_Tuple,0> {
    static std::ostream & print( std::ostream & s, const T_Tuple & ) {
        return s;
    }
};

template <typename T_Tuple>
std::ostream & print_tuple( std::ostream & s, const T_Tuple & t ) {
    return print_tuple_helper<T_Tuple,boost::tuples::length<T_Tuple>::value>::print( s, t );
}

int main() {

    const boost::tuple<int,char,float,char,double> t( 0, ' ', 2.5f, '\n', 3.1416 );
    print_tuple( std::cout, t );

    return 0;
}

In C++0x, you can write print_tuple() as a variadic template function instead.

Another option would be to implement iterators for tuples. This has the advantage that you can use a variety of algorithms provided by the standard library and range-based for loops. An elegant approach to this is explained here https://foonathan.net/2017/03/tuple-iterator/. The basic idea is to turn tuples into a range with begin() and end() methods to provide iterators. The iterator itself returns a std::variant<...> which can then be visited using std::visit.

Here some examples:

auto t = std::tuple{ 1, 2.f, 3.0 };
auto r = to_range(t);

for(auto v : r)
{
    std::visit(unwrap([](auto& x)
        {
            x = 1;
        }), v);
}

std::for_each(begin(r), end(r), [](auto v)
    {
        std::visit(unwrap([](auto& x)
            {
                x = 0;
            }), v);
    });

std::accumulate(begin(r), end(r), 0.0, [](auto acc, auto v)
    {
        return acc + std::visit(unwrap([](auto& x)
        {
            return static_cast<double>(x);
        }), v);
    });

std::for_each(begin(r), end(r), [](auto v)
{
    std::visit(unwrap([](const auto& x)
        {
            std::cout << x << std::endl;
        }), v);
});

std::for_each(begin(r), end(r), [](auto v)
{
    std::visit(overload(
        [](int x) { std::cout << "int" << std::endl; },
        [](float x) { std::cout << "float" << std::endl; },
        [](double x) { std::cout << "double" << std::endl; }), v);
});

My implementation (which is heavily based on the explanations in the link above):

#ifndef TUPLE_RANGE_H
#define TUPLE_RANGE_H

#include <utility>
#include <functional>
#include <variant>
#include <type_traits>

template<typename Accessor>
class tuple_iterator
{
public:
    tuple_iterator(Accessor acc, const int idx)
        : acc_(acc), index_(idx)
    {

    }

    tuple_iterator operator++()
    {
        ++index_;
        return *this;
    }

    template<typename T>
    bool operator ==(tuple_iterator<T> other)
    {
        return index_ == other.index();
    }

    template<typename T>
    bool operator !=(tuple_iterator<T> other)
    {
        return index_ != other.index();
    }

    auto operator*() { return std::invoke(acc_, index_); }

    [[nodiscard]] int index() const { return index_; }

private:
    const Accessor acc_;
    int index_;
};

template<bool IsConst, typename...Ts>
struct tuple_access
{
    using tuple_type = std::tuple<Ts...>;
    using tuple_ref = std::conditional_t<IsConst, const tuple_type&, tuple_type&>;

    template<typename T>
    using element_ref = std::conditional_t<IsConst,
        std::reference_wrapper<const T>,
        std::reference_wrapper<T>>;

    using variant_type = std::variant<element_ref<Ts>...>;
    using function_type = variant_type(*)(tuple_ref);
    using table_type = std::array<function_type, sizeof...(Ts)>;

private:
    template<size_t Index>
    static constexpr function_type create_accessor()
    {
        return { [](tuple_ref t) -> variant_type
        {
            if constexpr (IsConst)
                return std::cref(std::get<Index>(t));
            else
                return std::ref(std::get<Index>(t));
        } };
    }

    template<size_t...Is>
    static constexpr table_type create_table(std::index_sequence<Is...>)
    {
        return { create_accessor<Is>()... };
    }

public:
    static constexpr auto table = create_table(std::make_index_sequence<sizeof...(Ts)>{}); 
};

template<bool IsConst, typename...Ts>
class tuple_range
{
public:
    using tuple_access_type = tuple_access<IsConst, Ts...>;
    using tuple_ref = typename tuple_access_type::tuple_ref;

    static constexpr auto tuple_size = sizeof...(Ts);

    explicit tuple_range(tuple_ref tuple)
        : tuple_(tuple)
    {
    }

    [[nodiscard]] auto begin() const 
    { 
        return tuple_iterator{ create_accessor(), 0 };
    }

    [[nodiscard]] auto end() const 
    { 
        return tuple_iterator{ create_accessor(), tuple_size };
    }

private:
    tuple_ref tuple_;

    auto create_accessor() const
    { 
        return [this](int idx)
        {
            return std::invoke(tuple_access_type::table[idx], tuple_);
        };
    }
};

template<bool IsConst, typename...Ts>
auto begin(const tuple_range<IsConst, Ts...>& r)
{
    return r.begin();
}

template<bool IsConst, typename...Ts>
auto end(const tuple_range<IsConst, Ts...>& r)
{
    return r.end();
}

template <class ... Fs>
struct overload : Fs... {
    explicit overload(Fs&&... fs) : Fs{ fs }... {}
    using Fs::operator()...;

    template<class T>
    auto operator()(std::reference_wrapper<T> ref)
    {
        return (*this)(ref.get());
    }

    template<class T>
    auto operator()(std::reference_wrapper<const T> ref)
    {
        return (*this)(ref.get());
    }
};

template <class F>
struct unwrap : overload<F>
{
    explicit unwrap(F&& f) : overload<F>{ std::forward<F>(f) } {}
    using overload<F>::operator();
};

template<typename...Ts>
auto to_range(std::tuple<Ts...>& t)
{
    return tuple_range<false, Ts...>{t};
}

template<typename...Ts>
auto to_range(const std::tuple<Ts...>& t)
{
    return tuple_range<true, Ts...>{t};
}


#endif

Read-only access is also supported by passing a const std::tuple<>& to to_range().

Others have mentioned some well-designed third-party libraries that you may turn to. However, if you are using C++ without those third-party libraries, the following code may help.

namespace detail {

template <class Tuple, std::size_t I, class = void>
struct for_each_in_tuple_helper {
  template <class UnaryFunction>
  static void apply(Tuple&& tp, UnaryFunction& f) {
    f(std::get<I>(std::forward<Tuple>(tp)));
    for_each_in_tuple_helper<Tuple, I + 1u>::apply(std::forward<Tuple>(tp), f);
  }
};

template <class Tuple, std::size_t I>
struct for_each_in_tuple_helper<Tuple, I, typename std::enable_if<
    I == std::tuple_size<typename std::decay<Tuple>::type>::value>::type> {
  template <class UnaryFunction>
  static void apply(Tuple&&, UnaryFunction&) {}
};

}  // namespace detail

template <class Tuple, class UnaryFunction>
UnaryFunction for_each_in_tuple(Tuple&& tp, UnaryFunction f) {
  detail::for_each_in_tuple_helper<Tuple, 0u>
      ::apply(std::forward<Tuple>(tp), f);
  return std::move(f);
}

Note: The code compiles with any compiler supporing C++11, and it keeps consistency with design of the standard library:

  1. The tuple need not be std::tuple, and instead may be anything that supports std::get and std::tuple_size; in particular, std::array and std::pair may be used;

  2. The tuple may be a reference type or cv-qualified;

  3. It has similar behavior as std::for_each, and returns the input UnaryFunction;

  4. For C++14 (or laster version) users, typename std::enable_if<T>::type and typename std::decay<T>::type could be replaced with their simplified version, std::enable_if_t<T> and std::decay_t<T>;

  5. For C++17 (or laster version) users, std::tuple_size<T>::value could be replaced with its simplified version, std::tuple_size_v<T>.

  6. For C++20 (or laster version) users, the SFINAE feature could be implemented with the Concepts.

Using constexpr and if constexpr(C++17) this is fairly simple and straight forward:

template <std::size_t I = 0, typename ... Ts>
void print(std::tuple<Ts...> tup) {
  if constexpr (I == sizeof...(Ts)) {
    return;
  } else {
    std::cout << std::get<I>(tup) << ' ';
    print<I+1>(tup);
  }
}

Of all the answers I've seen here, here and here, I liked @sigidagi's way of iterating best. Unfortunately, his answer is very verbose which in my opinion obscures the inherent clarity.

This is my version of his solution which is more concise and works with std::tuple, std::pair and std::array.

template<typename UnaryFunction>
void invoke_with_arg(UnaryFunction)
{}

/**
 * Invoke the unary function with each of the arguments in turn.
 */
template<typename UnaryFunction, typename Arg0, typename... Args>
void invoke_with_arg(UnaryFunction f, Arg0&& a0, Args&&... as)
{
    f(std::forward<Arg0>(a0));
    invoke_with_arg(std::move(f), std::forward<Args>(as)...);
}

template<typename Tuple, typename UnaryFunction, std::size_t... Indices>
void for_each_helper(Tuple&& t, UnaryFunction f, std::index_sequence<Indices...>)
{
    using std::get;
    invoke_with_arg(std::move(f), get<Indices>(std::forward<Tuple>(t))...);
}

/**
 * Invoke the unary function for each of the elements of the tuple.
 */
template<typename Tuple, typename UnaryFunction>
void for_each(Tuple&& t, UnaryFunction f)
{
    using size = std::tuple_size<typename std::remove_reference<Tuple>::type>;
    for_each_helper(
        std::forward<Tuple>(t),
        std::move(f),
        std::make_index_sequence<size::value>()
    );
}

Demo: coliru

C++14's std::make_index_sequence can be implemented for C++11.

Expanding on @Stypox answer, we can make their solution more generic (C++17 onward). By adding a callable function argument:

template<size_t I = 0, typename... Tp, typename F>
void for_each_apply(std::tuple<Tp...>& t, F &&f) {
    f(std::get<I>(t));
    if constexpr(I+1 != sizeof...(Tp)) {
        for_each_apply<I+1>(t, std::forward<F>(f));
    }
}

Then, we need a strategy to visit each type.

Let start with some helpers (first two taken from cppreference):

template<class... Ts> struct overloaded : Ts... { using Ts::operator()...; };
template<class... Ts> overloaded(Ts...) -> overloaded<Ts...>;
template<class ... Ts> struct variant_ref { using type = std::variant<std::reference_wrapper<Ts>...>; };

variant_ref is used to allow tuples' state to be modified.

Usage:

std::tuple<Foo, Bar, Foo> tuples;

for_each_apply(tuples,
               [](variant_ref<Foo, Bar>::type &&v) {
                   std::visit(overloaded {
                       [](Foo &arg) { arg.foo(); },
                       [](Bar const &arg) { arg.bar(); },
                   }, v);
               });

Result:

Foo0
Bar
Foo0
Foo1
Bar
Foo1

For completeness, here are my Bar & Foo:

struct Foo {
    void foo() {std::cout << "Foo" << i++ << std::endl;}
    int i = 0;
};
struct Bar {
    void bar() const {std::cout << "Bar" << std::endl;}
};

I have stumbled on the same problem for iterating over a tuple of function objects, so here is one more solution:

#include <tuple> 
#include <iostream>

// Function objects
class A 
{
    public: 
        inline void operator()() const { std::cout << "A\n"; };
};

class B 
{
    public: 
        inline void operator()() const { std::cout << "B\n"; };
};

class C 
{
    public:
        inline void operator()() const { std::cout << "C\n"; };
};

class D 
{
    public:
        inline void operator()() const { std::cout << "D\n"; };
};


// Call iterator using recursion.
template<typename Fobjects, int N = 0> 
struct call_functors 
{
    static void apply(Fobjects const& funcs)
    {
        std::get<N>(funcs)(); 

        // Choose either the stopper or descend further,  
        // depending if N + 1 < size of the tuple. 
        using caller = std::conditional_t
        <
            N + 1 < std::tuple_size_v<Fobjects>,
            call_functors<Fobjects, N + 1>, 
            call_functors<Fobjects, -1>
        >;

        caller::apply(funcs); 
    }
};

// Stopper.
template<typename Fobjects> 
struct call_functors<Fobjects, -1>
{
    static void apply(Fobjects const& funcs)
    {
    }
};

// Call dispatch function.
template<typename Fobjects>
void call(Fobjects const& funcs)
{
    call_functors<Fobjects>::apply(funcs);
};


using namespace std; 

int main()
{
    using Tuple = tuple<A,B,C,D>; 

    Tuple functors = {A{}, B{}, C{}, D{}}; 

    call(functors); 

    return 0; 
}

Output:

A 
B 
C 
D

There're many great answers, but for some reason most of them don't consider returning the results of applying f to our tuple... or did I overlook it? Anyway, here's yet another way you can do that:

Doing Foreach with style (debatable)

auto t = std::make_tuple(1, "two", 3.f);
t | foreach([](auto v){ std::cout << v << " "; });

And returning from that:

    auto t = std::make_tuple(1, "two", 3.f);
    auto sizes = t | foreach([](auto v) {
        return sizeof(v);
    });
    sizes | foreach([](auto v) {
        std::cout << v;
    });

Implementation (pretty simple one)

Edit: it gets a little messier.

I won't include some metaprogramming boilerplate here, for it will definitely make things less readable and besides, I believe those have already been answered somewhere on stackoverflow. In case you're feeling lazy, feel free to peek into my github repo for implementation of both

#include <utility>


// Optional includes, if you don't want to implement it by hand or google it
// you can find it in the repo (link below)
#include "typesystem/typelist.hpp"
// used to check if all return types are void, 
// making it a special case 
// (and, alas, not using constexpr-if 
//    for the sake of being compatible with C++14...) 


template <bool Cond, typename T, typename F>
using select = typename std::conditional<Cond, T, F>::type;


template <typename F>
struct elementwise_apply {
    F f;
};

template <typename F>
constexpr auto foreach(F && f) -> elementwise_apply<F> { return {std::forward<F>(f)}; }


template <typename R>
struct tuple_map {
    template <typename F, typename T, size_t... Is>
    static constexpr decltype(auto) impl(std::index_sequence<Is...>, F && f, T&& tuple) {
        return R{ std::forward<F>(f)( std::get<Is>(tuple) )... };
    }
};

template<>
struct tuple_map<void> {
    template <typename F, typename T, size_t... Is>
    static constexpr void impl(std::index_sequence<Is...>, F && f, T&& tuple) {
        [[maybe_unused]] std::initializer_list<int> _ {((void)std::forward<F>(f)( std::get<Is>(tuple) ), 0)... };
    }
};

template <typename F, typename... Ts>
constexpr decltype(auto) operator| (std::tuple<Ts...> & t, fmap<F> && op) {
    constexpr bool all_void = core::Types<decltype( std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts&>()) )...>.all( core::is_void );
    using R = meta::select<all_void, void, std::tuple<decltype(std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts&>()))...>>;
    return tuple_map<R>::impl(std::make_index_sequence<sizeof...(Ts)>{}, std::move(op).f, t);
}

template <typename F, typename... Ts>
constexpr decltype(auto) operator| (std::tuple<Ts...> const& t, fmap<F> && op) {
    constexpr bool all_void = check if all "decltype( std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts>()) )..." types are void, since then it's a special case
    // e.g. core::Types<decltype( std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts>()) )...>.all( core::is_void );
    using R = meta::select<all_void, void, std::tuple<decltype(std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts const&>()))...>>;
    return tuple_map<R>::impl(std::make_index_sequence<sizeof...(Ts)>{}, std::move(op).f, t);
}

template <typename F, typename... Ts>
constexpr decltype(auto) operator| (std::tuple<Ts...> && t, fmap<F> && op) {
    constexpr bool all_void = core::Types<decltype( std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts&&>()) )...>.all( core::is_void );
    using R = meta::select<all_void, void, std::tuple<decltype(std::move(op).f(std::declval<Ts&&>()))...>>;
    return tuple_map<R>::impl(std::make_index_sequence<sizeof...(Ts)>{}, std::move(op).f, std::move(t));
}

Yeah, that would be much nicer if we were to use C++17

This is also an example of std::moving object's members, for which I'll better refer to this nice brief article

P.S. If you're stuck checking if all "decltype( std::move(op).f(std::declval()) )..." types are void you can find some metaprogramming library, or, if those libraries seem too hard to grasp (which some of them may be due to some crazy metaprogramming tricks), you know where to look

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