std::less

 

C++

Compiler support

Freestanding and hosted

Language

Standard library

Standard library headers

Named requirements

Feature test macros(C++20)

Language support library

Concepts library(C++20)

Diagnostics library

Memory management library

Metaprogramming library(C++11)

General utilities library

Containers library

Iterators library

Ranges library(C++20)

Algorithms library

Strings library

Text processing library

Numerics library

Date and time library

Input/output library

Filesystem library(C++17)

Concurrency support library(C++11)

Execution control library(C++26)

Technical specifications

Symbols index

External libraries

 

Utilities library

Language support Type support (basic types, RTTI) Library feature-test macros(C++20) Program utilities Variadic functions initializer_list (C++11) is_constant_evaluated (C++20) is_within_lifetime (C++26) source_location (C++20) Coroutine support(C++20) Contract support(C++26) Three-way comparison three_way_comparablethree_way_comparable_with (C++20)(C++20) strong_ordering (C++20) weak_ordering (C++20) partial_ordering (C++20) common_comparison_category (C++20) compare_three_way_result (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20) strong_order (C++20) weak_order (C++20) partial_order (C++20) compare_strong_order_fallback (C++20) compare_weak_order_fallback (C++20) compare_partial_order_fallback (C++20)   is_eqis_ltis_lteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   is_neqis_gtis_gteq (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)

General utilities Function objects Bit manipulation(C++20) bitset hash (C++11) Relational operators(deprecated in C++20) rel_ops::operator!=rel_ops::operator>    rel_ops::operator<=rel_ops::operator>= Integer comparison functions cmp_equalcmp_lesscmp_less_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20)   cmp_not_equalcmp_greatercmp_greater_than (C++20)(C++20)(C++20) in_range (C++20) Swap and type operations swap ranges::swap (C++20) exchange (C++14) declval (C++11) to_underlying (C++23) forward (C++11) forward_like (C++23) move (C++11) move_if_noexcept (C++11) as_const (C++17) Common vocabulary types pair tuple (C++11) optional (C++17) any (C++17) variant (C++17) tuple_size (C++11) tuple_element (C++11) apply (C++17) make_from_tuple (C++17) expected (C++23)

 

Function objects

Function wrappers function (C++11) move_only_function (C++23) copyable_function (C++26) function_ref (C++26) mem_fn (C++11) bad_function_call (C++11)	Partial function application bind_frontbind_back (C++20)(C++23) bind (C++11) is_bind_expression (C++11) is_placeholder (C++11) _1, _2, _3, ... (C++11)
Function invocation invokeinvoke_r (C++17)(C++23) Identity function object identity (C++20)	Reference wrappers reference_wrapper (C++11) refcref (C++11)(C++11) unwrap_referenceunwrap_ref_decay (C++20)(C++20)
Operator wrappers plus minus negate multiplies divides modulus bit_and bit_or bit_not (C++14)   bit_xor equal_to not_equal_to greater less greater_equal less_equal logical_and logical_or logical_not	Transparent operator wrappers plus<> (C++14) minus<> (C++14) negate<> (C++14) multiplies<> (C++14)   divides<> (C++14) modulus<> (C++14) bit_and<> (C++14) bit_or<> (C++14) bit_not<> (C++14) bit_xor<> (C++14) equal_to<> (C++14) not_equal_to<> (C++14) greater<> (C++14) less<> (C++14) greater_equal<> (C++14) less_equal<> (C++14) logical_and<> (C++14) logical_or<> (C++14) logical_not<> (C++14)
Negators not_fn (C++17) Searchers default_searcher (C++17) boyer_moore_searcher (C++17) boyer_moore_horspool_searcher (C++17)	Constrained comparators ranges::equal_to (C++20) ranges::not_equal_to (C++20) ranges::greater (C++20) ranges::less (C++20) ranges::greater_equal (C++20) ranges::less_equal (C++20) compare_three_way (C++20)
Old binders and adaptors
unary_function (until C++17*) binary_function (until C++17*) ptr_fun (until C++17*) pointer_to_unary_function (until C++17*) pointer_to_binary_function (until C++17*)   mem_fun (until C++17*) mem_fun_tmem_fun1_tconst_mem_fun_tconst_mem_fun1_t (until C++17*)(until C++17*)(until C++17*)(until C++17*) not1 (until C++20*) not2 (until C++20*)	binder1stbinder2nd (until C++17*)(until C++17*) bind1stbind2nd (until C++17*)(until C++17*) mem_fun_ref (until C++17*) mem_fun_ref_tmem_fun1_ref_tconst_mem_fun_ref_tconst_mem_fun1_ref_t (until C++17*)(until C++17*)(until C++17*)(until C++17*) unary_negate (until C++20*) binary_negate (until C++20*)

 

Defined in header <functional>
template<class T > struct less;		(until C++14)
template<class T =void> struct less;		(since C++14)

Function object for performing comparisons. The main template invokes operator< on type T.

Specializations

less<void> (C++14)

function object implementing x < y deducing parameter and return types (class template specialization)

Member types

Type	Definition
result_type(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	bool
first_argument_type(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	T
second_argument_type(deprecated in C++17)(removed in C++20)	T

These member types are obtained via publicly inheriting std::binary_function<T, T, bool>.

(until C++11)

Member functions

operator()

checks whether the first argument is less than the second (public member function)

std::less::operator()

bool operator()(const T& lhs, const T& rhs )const;		(constexpr since C++14)

Checks whether lhs is less than rhs.

Parameters

lhs, rhs

-

values to compare

Return value

lhs < rhs.

If T is a pointer type, the result is consistent with the implementation-defined strict total order over pointers.

Exceptions

May throw implementation-defined exceptions.

Possible implementation

constexprbool operator()(const T& lhs, const T& rhs)const{return lhs < rhs;// assumes that the implementation handles pointer total order}

Example

Run this code

#include <functional>   template<typename A, typename B, typename C = std::less<>>constexprbool fun(A a, B b, C cmp = C{}){return cmp(a, b);}   static_assert(fun(1, 2)==true); static_assert(fun(1.0, 1)==false); static_assert(fun(1, 2.0)==true); static_assert(std::less<int>{}(5, 5.6)==false);// 5 < 5 (warn: implicit conversion) static_assert(std::less<double>{}(5, 5.6)==true);// 5.0 < 5.6 static_assert(std::less<int>{}(5.6, 5.7)==false);// 5 < 5 (warn: implicit conversion) static_assert(std::less{}(5, 5.6)==true);// less<void>: 5.0 < 5.6   int main(){}

Defect reports

The following behavior-changing defect reports were applied retroactively to previously published C++ standards.

DR	Applied to	Behavior as published	Correct behavior
LWG 2562	C++98	the pointer total order might be inconsistent	guaranteed to be consistent

See also

equal_to	function object implementing x == y (class template)
greater	function object implementing x > y (class template)
ranges::less (C++20)	constrained function object implementing x < y (class)