std::uninitialized_fill

Defined in header `<memory>`
template< class NoThrowForwardIt, class T > void uninitialized_fill( NoThrowForwardIt first, NoThrowForwardIt last, const T& value );	(1)	(constexpr since C++26)
template< class ExecutionPolicy, class NoThrowForwardIt, class T > void uninitialized_fill( ExecutionPolicy&& policy, NoThrowForwardIt first, NoThrowForwardIt last, const T& value );	(2)	(since C++17)

1) Copies value to an uninitialized memory area [first, last) as if by

for (; first != last; ++first)
::new (voidify(*first))
typename std::iterator_traits<NoThrowForwardIt>::value_type(value);

If an exception is thrown during the initialization, the objects already constructed are destroyed in an unspecified order.

2) Same as (1), but executed according to policy.

This overload participates 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	-	the range of the elements to initialize
value	-	the value to construct the elements with
policy	-	the execution policy to use
Type requirements
- `NoThrowForwardIt` must meet the requirements of LegacyForwardIterator.
- No increment, assignment, comparison, or indirection through valid instances of `NoThrowForwardIt` may throw exceptions. Applying &* to a `NoThrowForwardIt` value must yield a pointer to its value type.(until C++11)

Complexity

Linear in the distance between first and last.

Exceptions

The overload with a template parameter named ExecutionPolicy reports 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.

Notes

Feature-test macro	Value	Std	Feature
`__cpp_lib_raw_memory_algorithms`	`202411L`	(C++26)	constexpr for specialized memory algorithms, (1)

Possible implementation

template<class NoThrowForwardIt, class T>
constexpr void uninitialized_fill(NoThrowForwardIt first, NoThrowForwardIt last,
                                  const T& value)
{
    using V = typename std::iterator_traits<NoThrowForwardIt>::value_type;
    NoThrowForwardIt current = first;
    try
    {
        for (; current != last; ++current)
            ::new (static_cast<void*>(std::addressof(*current))) V(value);
    } 
    catch (...)
    {
        for (; first != current; ++first)
            first->~V();
        throw;
    }
}

Example

Run this code

#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
 
int main()
{
    const std::size_t sz = 4;
    std::allocator<std::string> alloc;
    std::string* p = alloc.allocate(sz);
 
    std::uninitialized_fill(p, p + sz, "Example");
 
    for (std::string* i = p; i != p + sz; ++i)
    {
        std::cout << *i << '\n';
        i->~basic_string<char>();
    }
 
    alloc.deallocate(p, sz);
}

Output:

Example
Example
Example
Example

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 866	C++98	given `T` as the value type of `NoThrowForwardIt`, if T::operator new exists, the program might be ill-formed	uses global placement new instead
LWG 2433	C++11	this algorithm might be hijacked by overloaded operator&	uses std::addressof
LWG 3870	C++20	this algorithm might create objects on a const storage	kept disallowed

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 support library (C++26)
Technical specifications
Symbols index
External libraries

uninitialized_fill_n	copies an object to an uninitialized area of memory, defined by a start and a count (function template)
ranges::uninitialized_fill (C++20)	copies an object to an uninitialized area of memory, defined by a range (algorithm function object)