Can you remove elements from a std::list while iterating through it?

Question

I\'ve got code that looks like this:

for (std::list::iterator i=items.begin();i!=items.end();i++)
{
    bool isActive = (*i)->update();
    /         


        

Answer 1

Iterating backwards avoids the effect of erasing an element on the remaining elements to be traversed:

typedef list list_t;
for ( list_t::iterator it = items.end() ; it != items.begin() ; ) {
    --it;
    bool remove = 
    if ( remove ) {
        items.erase( it );
    }
}

PS: see this, e.g., regarding backward iteration.

PS2: I did not thoroughly tested if it handles well erasing elements at the ends.