Most efficient/elegant way to clip a number?

Question

Given a real (n), a maximum value this real can be (upper), and a minimum value this real can be (lower), how can we most efficiently clip n, such that it remains between lo

Answer 1

the best is clearly

template 
t clamp2(t x, t min, t max)
{
if (x < min) x = min;
if (x > max) x = max;
return x;
}

as it compiles to

movss   xmm0, cs:__real@c2c80000
maxss   xmm0, [rsp+38h+var_18]
movss   xmm1, cs:__real@42c80000
minss   xmm1, xmm0
movss   [rsp+38h+var_18], xmm1

it has 0 branches and should be the fastest of all posted above.

also msvc141 with the standard release settings