What is the easiest way to initialize a std::vector with hardcoded elements?

If your compiler supports C++11, you can simply do:

std::vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4};

This is available in GCC as of version 4.4. Unfortunately, VC++ 2010 seems to be lagging behind in this respect.

Alternatively, the Boost.Assign library uses non-macro magic to allow the following:

#include <boost/assign/list_of.hpp>
...
std::vector<int> v = boost::assign::list_of(1)(2)(3)(4);

Or:

#include <boost/assign/std/vector.hpp>
using namespace boost::assign;
...
std::vector<int> v;
v += 1, 2, 3, 4;

But keep in mind that this has some overhead (basically, list_of constructs a std::deque under the hood) so for performance-critical code you'd be better off doing as Yacoby says.

One method would be to use the array to initialize the vector

static const int arr[] = {16,2,77,29};
vector<int> vec (arr, arr + sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]) );

If you can, use the modern C++[11,14,17,20,...] way:

std::vector<int> ints = {10, 20, 30};

The old way of looping over a variable-length array or using sizeof() is truly terrible on the eyes and completely unnecessary in terms of mental overhead. Yuck.

In C++0x you will be able to do it in the same way that you did with an array, but not in the current standard.

With only language support you can use:

int tmp[] = { 10, 20, 30 };
std::vector<int> v( tmp, tmp+3 ); // use some utility to avoid hardcoding the size here

If you can add other libraries you could try boost::assignment:

vector<int> v = list_of(10)(20)(30);

To avoid hardcoding the size of an array:

// option 1, typesafe, not a compile time constant
template <typename T, std::size_t N>
inline std::size_t size_of_array( T (&)[N] ) {
   return N;
}
// option 2, not typesafe, compile time constant
#define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof(x[0]))

// option 3, typesafe, compile time constant
template <typename T, std::size_t N>
char (&sizeof_array( T(&)[N] ))[N];    // declared, undefined
#define ARRAY_SIZE(x) sizeof(sizeof_array(x))

You can do that using boost::assign:

vector<int> values;
values += 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9;

Details are here.

There are a lot of good answers here, but since I independently arrived at my own before reading this, I figured I'd toss mine up here anyway...

Here's a method that I'm using for this which will work universally across compilers and platforms:

Create a struct or class as a container for your collection of objects. Define an operator overload function for <<.

class MyObject;

struct MyObjectList
{
    std::list<MyObject> objects;
    MyObjectList& operator<<( const MyObject o )
    { 
        objects.push_back( o );
        return *this; 
    }
};

You can create functions which take your struct as a parameter, e.g.:

someFunc( MyObjectList &objects );

Then, you can call that function, like this:

someFunc( MyObjectList() << MyObject(1) <<  MyObject(2) <<  MyObject(3) );

That way, you can build and pass a dynamically sized collection of objects to a function in one single clean line!

If you want something on the same general order as Boost::assign without creating a dependency on Boost, the following is at least vaguely similar:

template<class T>
class make_vector {
    std::vector<T> data;
public:
    make_vector(T const &val) { 
        data.push_back(val);
    }

    make_vector<T> &operator,(T const &t) {
        data.push_back(t);
        return *this;
    }

    operator std::vector<T>() { return data; }
};

template<class T> 
make_vector<T> makeVect(T const &t) { 
    return make_vector<T>(t);
}

While I wish the syntax for using it was cleaner, it's still not particularly awful:

std::vector<int> x = (makeVect(1), 2, 3, 4);

If the array is:

int arr[] = {1, 2, 3};
int len = (sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0])); // finding length of array
vector < int > v;
v.assign(arr, arr+len); // assigning elements from array to vector 

It is pretty convenient to create a vector inline without defining variable when writing test, for example:

assert(MyFunction() == std::vector<int>{1, 3, 4}); // <- this.

There are various ways to hardcode a vector. I will share few ways:

1. Initializing by pushing values one by one

   // Create an empty vector
   vector<int> vect;
   
   vect.push_back(10);
   vect.push_back(20);
   vect.push_back(30);
   

2. Initializing like arrays

   vector<int> vect{ 10, 20, 30 };
   

3. Initializing from an array

   int arr[] = { 10, 20, 30 };
   int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
   
   vector<int> vect(arr, arr + n);
   

4. Initializing from another vector

   vector<int> vect1{ 10, 20, 30 };
   
   vector<int> vect2(vect1.begin(), vect1.end());
   

The simplest, ergonomic way (with C++ 11 or later):

auto my_ints = {1,2,3};

In case you want to have it in your own class:

#include <initializer_list>
Vector<Type>::Vector(std::initializer_list<Type> init_list) : _size(init_list.size()),
_capacity(_size),
_data(new Type[_size])
{
    int idx = 0;
    for (auto it = init_list.begin(); it != init_list.end(); ++it)
        _data[idx++] = *it;
}