23 Iterators library [iterators]

23.3 Iterator requirements [iterator.requirements]

23.3.2 Associated types [iterator.assoc.types]

23.3.2.2 Indirectly readable traits [readable.traits]

To implement algorithms only in terms of indirectly readable types, it is often necessary to determine the value type that corresponds to a particular indirectly readable type.
Accordingly, it is required that if R is the name of a type that models the indirectly_­readable concept ([iterator.concept.readable]), the type
iter_value_t<R>
be defined as the indirectly readable type's value type.
template<class> struct cond-value-type { };     // exposition only
template<class T>
  requires is_object_v<T>
struct cond-value-type<T> {
  using value_type = remove_cv_t<T>;
};

template<class> struct indirectly_readable_traits { };

template<class T>
struct indirectly_readable_traits<T*>
  : cond-value-type<T> { };

template<class I>
  requires is_array_v<I>
struct indirectly_readable_traits<I> {
  using value_type = remove_cv_t<remove_extent_t<I>>;
};

template<class I>
struct indirectly_readable_traits<const I>
  : indirectly_readable_traits<I> { };

template<class T>
  requires requires { typename T::value_type; }
struct indirectly_readable_traits<T>
  : cond-value-type<typename T::value_type> { };

template<class T>
  requires requires { typename T::element_type; }
struct indirectly_readable_traits<T>
  : cond-value-type<typename T::element_type> { };

template<class T> using iter_value_t = see below;
Let be remove_­cvref_­t<I>.
The type iter_­value_­t<I> denotes
  • indirectly_­readable_­traits<>​::​value_­type if iterator_­traits<> names a specialization generated from the primary template, and
  • iterator_­traits<>​::​value_­type otherwise.
Class template indirectly_­readable_­traits may be specialized on program-defined types.
[Note
:
Some legacy output iterators define a nested type named value_­type that is an alias for void.
These types are not indirectly_­readable and have no associated value types.
— end note
]
[Note
:
Smart pointers like shared_­ptr<int> are indirectly_­readable and have an associated value type, but a smart pointer like shared_­ptr<void> is not indirectly_­readable and has no associated value type.
— end note
]