How do I compare the first element (string) of a pair in a pair vector with another string?

Question

I'm trying to implement what I've learned about std::vector to solve a problem. User is going to input a list of animal names (not specified how many) and I need to record the animal names and their occurrences in the user input. At first, I tried using an array, but as it's static, I turned to std::vector . Again, at first, I tried using two std::vector , one with type int and the other with type string to store the animal names and the amount of occurrences. However, it seems a bit hard to sort both vectors later and a std::vector with a pair type sounds better in my mind. And now, I'm stuck with this code below with errors I don't quite understand:

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
#include <sstream>

using namespace std;

int position(vector< pair<string, int> > myList, string animalName) {
    int pos;
    for (int i = 0; i < myList.size(); i++) if (animalName.compare(myList[i].first) == 0) pos = i;
    return pos;
}

int main() {
    int Q;
    cin >> Q;

    vector< pair<string, int> > zooPair;
    string animal;

    for (int i = 0; i < Q; i++){
        cin >> animal;
        if (find_if(zooPair.begin(), zooPair.end(), animal.compare(zooPair.first) == 0) == zooPair.end())
            zooPair.emplace_back(animal, 1);
        else
            zooPair[position(zooPair, animal)].second += 1;
    }

    sort(zooPair.begin(), zooPair.end());

    for (vector< pair<string, int> >::iterator it = zooList.begin(); it != zooList.end(); it++)
        cout << *it;

    return 0;
}

Answer 1

You simply should use std::map as the container type, because it already sorts, have a easy to use access interface with operator[]. Here we create a std::map with your animal and the number of them in your zoo.

Example:

int main() {
    int Q;
    std::cout << "Enter number of entries" << std::endl;
    std::cin >> Q;

    std::map<std::string, int> zoo;

    std::string animal;

    for (int i = 0; i < Q; i++){
        std::cout << "Enter animal" << std::endl;
        std::cin >> animal;
        zoo[animal]++;
    }

    for ( auto& it: zoo )
    {
        std::cout << it.first << " " << it.second << std::endl;
    }


    return 0; 
}

As you see, there is no need for an additional sort as a map is always sorted for the first part, named the "key", of every entry.

The same with std::vector . Remark that you have to give operators for sort and find!

Full example:

struct SortableElements: public std::pair< std::string, int >
{
    // forward construction 
    using std::pair<std::string, int>::pair;

    // use for sort: 
    bool operator < (const SortableElements& e2 ) const
    {
        return first < e2.first;
    }

    // use for find: 
    bool operator == ( const std::string& e2 ) const
    {
        return first == e2;
    }
};



int main() 
{   
    std::vector< SortableElements > zoo;

    int Q;
    std::cout << "Enter number of entries" << std::endl;
    std::cin >> Q;

    std::string animal;

    for (int i = 0; i < Q; i++){
        std::cout << "Enter animal" << std::endl;
        std::cin >> animal;

        auto it = std::find( zoo.begin(), zoo.end(), animal);
        if ( it != zoo.end())
        {
            it->second++;
        }
        else
        {
            zoo.emplace_back( animal, 1 );
        }
    }

    // sort:
    std::sort(zoo.begin(), zoo.end());

    for ( auto& it: zoo )
    {
        std::cout << it.first << " " << it.second << std::endl;
    }

    return 0;
}