Efficient way of iterating over true bits in std::bitset?

Question

Is there a way of iterating over a (possibly huge) std::bitset that is linear in the number of bits that are set to true? I want to prevent ha

Answer 1

For that to be linear, you'd need a linked-list/array/set of the indices set true. Keeping such a secondary index is not part of the performance/storage tradeoffs required by std::bitset, and given it would disadvantage everyone without your specific requirement, there's no way an implementation will provide this. You could consider supplementing your bitset with such a container yourself, or using boost's multi-index container library.