STL General: How to remove elements of a particular value from a container ?

[Yves M]

Q: What is the best way to remove all elements of a particular value from a container?

A: Use the so-called 'remove/erase' idiom:

// taken from Item 32 of Scott Myers' Effective STL
vector<int> v;
v.erase(remove(v.begin(), v.end(), 99), v.end());

This is because of the simple fact that 'remove()' is a generic algorithm which takes iterators as its arguments. The iterators know nothing of their container; the STL was designed so as to grant the smallest possible amount of coupling. Thus, the iterators cannot call any container's 'erase()' or similar function.

'remove()' DOES return the container's new 'end()' (which just
happens to be the first element that was removed) and this value
can be used in the container's 'erase()' call.