STL vector vs map erase

Question

In the STL almost all containers have an erase function. The question I have is in a vector, the erase function returns an iterator pointing to the next element in the vect

Answer 1

erase returns an iterator in C++11. This is due to defect report 130:

Table 67 (23.1.1) says that container::erase(iterator) returns an iterator. Table 69 (23.1.2) says that in addition to this requirement, associative containers also say that container::erase(iterator) returns void. That's not an addition; it's a change to the requirements, which has the effect of making associative containers fail to meet the requirements for containers.

The standards committee accepted this:

the LWG agrees the return type should be iterator, not void. (Alex Stepanov agrees too.)

(LWG = Library Working Group).