template <class T> const T& min ( const T& a, const T& b );
template <class T, class Compare>
  const T& min ( const T& a, const T& b, Compare comp );

<algorithm>

Return the lesser of two arguments

Returns the lesser of a and b.

The comparison uses operator< for the first version, and comp for the second.

The behavior of this function template is equivalent to:

template <class T> const T& min ( const T& a, const T& b ) {
  return (a<b)?a:b;     // or: return comp(a,b)?a:b; for the comp version
}

Parameters

a, b

Items to compare.
T is any type supporting copy constructions and comparisons with operator<.

comp

Comparison function object that, taking two values of the same type, returns true if the first argument is to be considered less than the second, and false otherwise.

Return value

Example

// min example
#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
using namespace std;

int main () {
  cout << "min(1,2)==" << min(1,2) << endl;
  cout << "min(2,1)==" << min(2,1) << endl;
  cout << "min('a','z')==" << min('a','z') << endl;
  cout << "min(3.14,2.72)==" << min(3.14,2.72) << endl;
  return 0;
}

Output:

min(1,2)==1
min(2,1)==1
min('a','z')==a
min(3.14,2.72)==2.72

See also