What does std::map ::erase return?

Well according to 23.3.1 of the C++98/03 standards, the erase function is declared like this:

void erase(iterator position);
size_type erase(const key_type & x);
void erase(iterator first, iterator last);

From the Dinkumware site:

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In this implementation, the first two member functions return an iterator that designates the first element remaining beyond any elements removed, or end() if no such element exists.

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As much as possible, this Reference indicates any extensions to standard-conforming behavior particular to this implementation.

So the Dinkumware implementation is an extension upon the standard.

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Original post by rick_appleton I thought the point of a standard was to make it possible to write code once and compile anywhere, but that doesn't work with this function, as the top one seems to be used by GCC, and the bottom version is used in Visual Studio.

So you can just use the top one?

Hmm, that's interesting. Thank you for the replies. I will certainly use the top version to be consistent.

dmatter: Where did you find that in the standard? Somewhere online I hope?

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Original post by rick_appleton dmatter: Where did you find that in the standard? Somewhere online I hope?

Well the standard itself isn't free, although fairly cheap. However a final draft is available online from a number of places and at no charge; it isn't significantly different from the finished version either, just re-wording and things of that nature.

For the map<>::erase function, I referred to section 23.3.1, titled "Class template map" (or "Template class map" depending on which version you read).

For completeness, the references to the two most recent standards are:
1998 standard: ISO/IEC 14882:1998(E)
2003 standard: ISO/IEC 14882:2003(E)

In either case erase returns void.