# std::min_element

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< cpp‎ | algorithm

Defined in header `<algorithm>` |  |
template< class ForwardIt > ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last ); | (1) | (constexpr since C++17)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt > ForwardIt min_element( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last ); | (2) | (since C++17)
template< class ForwardIt, class Compare > ForwardIt min_element( ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp ); | (3) | (constexpr since C++17)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class ForwardIt, class Compare > ForwardIt min_element( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp ); | (4) | (since C++17)

Finds the smallest element in the range `[`first`,` last`)`.

1) Elements are compared using operator<(until C++20) std::less {}(since C++20).
3) Elements are compared using the comparison function comp.
2,4) Same as (1,3), but executed according to policy.
These overloads participate in overload resolution only if all following conditions are satisfied:

std::is_execution_policy_v < std::decay_t <ExecutionPolicy>> is true. | (until C++20)
std::is_execution_policy_v < std::remove_cvref_t <ExecutionPolicy>> is true. | (since C++20)

### Parameters

first, last | - | forward iterators defining the range to examine
policy | - | the execution policy to use

comp

-

comparison function object (i.e. an object that satisfies the requirements of Compare) which returns true if the first argument is less than the second.

The signature of the comparison function should be equivalent to the following:

bool cmp(const Type1& a, const Type2& b);

While the signature does not need to have const&, the function must not modify the objects passed to it and must be able to accept all values of type (possibly const) `Type1` and `Type2` regardless of value category (thus, Type1& is not allowed, nor is Type1 unless for `Type1` a move is equivalent to a copy(since C++11)).
The types Type1 and Type2 must be such that an object of type ForwardIt can be dereferenced and then implicitly converted to both of them.

Type requirements
- `ForwardIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.

### Return value

Iterator to the smallest element in the range `[`first`,` last`)`. If several elements in the range are equivalent to the smallest element, returns the iterator to the first such element. Returns last if the range is empty.

### Complexity

Given \(\scriptsize N\)N as std::distance (first, last):

1,2) Exactly \(\scriptsize \max(N-1,0)\)max(N-1,0) comparisons using operator<(until C++20) std::less {}(since C++20).
3,4) Exactly \(\scriptsize \max(N-1,0)\)max(N-1,0) applications of the comparison function comp.

### Exceptions

The overloads with a template parameter named `ExecutionPolicy` report errors as follows:

- If execution of a function invoked as part of the algorithm throws an exception and `ExecutionPolicy` is one of the standard policies, std::terminate is called. For any other `ExecutionPolicy`, the behavior is implementation-defined.
- If the algorithm fails to allocate memory, std::bad_alloc is thrown.

### Possible implementation

min_element (1)

    template<class ForwardIt>
    ForwardIt min_element(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last)
    {
        if (first == last)
            return last;

        ForwardIt smallest = first;

        while (++first != last)
            if (*first < *smallest)
                smallest = first;

        return smallest;
    }

min_element (3)

    template<class ForwardIt, class Compare>
    ForwardIt min_element(ForwardIt first, ForwardIt last, Compare comp)
    {
        if (first == last)
            return last;

        ForwardIt smallest = first;

        while (++first != last)
            if (comp(*first, *smallest))
                smallest = first;

        return smallest;
    }

### Example

Run this code

    #include <algorithm>
    #include <iostream>
    #include <vector>

    int main()
    {
        std::vector<int> v{3, 1, -4, 1, 5, 9};

        std::vector<int>::iterator result = std::min_element(v.begin(), v.end());
        std::cout << "min element has value " << *result << " and index ["
                  << std::distance(v.begin(), result) << "]\n";
    }

Output:

    min element has value -4 and index [2]

### 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 212 | C++98 | the return value was not specified if `[`first`,` last`)` is empty | returns last in this case
LWG 2150 | C++98 | the iterator to the first non-greatest element was returned | corrected the return value

### See also

max_element | returns the largest element in a range (function template)
minmax_element (C++11) | returns the smallest and the largest elements in a range (function template)
min | returns the smaller of the given values (function template)
ranges::min_element (C++20) | returns the smallest element in a range (algorithm function object)

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