In the MRE https://godbolt.org/z/jdjPzdGeo, is there a way to return an iterator for c type arrays in Func like what you see with std::array in Func2 and Func3? IDK what the return type would be.

Also, is there a way to make Func constexpr like in Func2?

Edit: Add the code here

#include <array>

std::pair<int*, std::size_t>
Func() noexcept
{
    // why does constexpr instead of static not work?
    static int arr[]  = {1, 2};
    return { arr, std::size(arr) };
}

constexpr std::pair<std::array<int,2>::const_iterator, std::array<int,2>::const_iterator>
Func2() noexcept
{
    constexpr std::array<int, 2> arr  {{1, 2}};
    return { std::cbegin(arr), std::cend(arr) };
}

std::pair<std::array<int,2>::const_iterator, std::array<int,2>::const_iterator>
Func3() noexcept
{
    static std::array<int, 2> arr  {{1, 2}};
    return { std::cbegin(arr), std::cend(arr) };
}

int main()
{
    Func();
    Func2();
    Func3();
}

CodePudding user response：

Return iterator for c type arrays?

IDK what the return type would be.

The iterator type for arrays is a pointer. for example, if you have an array of int, then the iterator type for the array is int*.

and am expecting the return type to be an iterator of some sort.

int* is an iterator.

int* works for std::begin but what about std::cbegin?

If you want a constant iterator, that would be const int*.

Your Func2 returns dangling iterators as far as I can tell. Don't return iterators, references etc. to objects with automatic storage duration.