What Is the Easiest Way to Initialize a Std: :Vector with Hardcoded Elements?

If your compiler supports C++11, you can simply do:

std::vector<int> v = {1, 2, 3, 4};

This is available in GCC as of version 4.4. Unfortunately, VC++ 2010 seems to be lagging behind in this respect.

Alternatively, the Boost.Assign library uses non-macro magic to allow the following:

#include <boost/assign/list_of.hpp>
...
std::vector<int> v = boost::assign::list_of(1)(2)(3)(4);

Or:

#include <boost/assign/std/vector.hpp>
using namespace boost::assign;
...
std::vector<int> v;
v += 1, 2, 3, 4;

But keep in mind that this has some overhead (basically, list_of constructs a std::deque under the hood) so for performance-critical code you'd be better off doing as Yacoby says.

If you can, use the modern C++[11,14,17,20,...] way:

std::vector<int> ints = {10, 20, 30};

The old way of looping over a variable-length array or using sizeof() is truly terrible on the eyes and completely unnecessary in terms of mental overhead. Yuck.

In C++0x you will be able to do it in the same way that you did with an array, but not in the current standard.

With only language support you can use:

int tmp[] = { 10, 20, 30 };
std::vector<int> v( tmp, tmp+3 ); // use some utility to avoid hardcoding the size here

If you can add other libraries you could try boost::assignment:

vector<int> v = list_of(10)(20)(30);

To avoid hardcoding the size of an array:

// option 1, typesafe, not a compile time constant
template <typename T, std::size_t N>
inline std::size_t size_of_array( T (&)[N] ) {
   return N;
}
// option 2, not typesafe, compile time constant
#define ARRAY_SIZE(x) (sizeof(x) / sizeof(x[0]))

// option 3, typesafe, compile time constant
template <typename T, std::size_t N>
char (&sizeof_array( T(&)[N] ))[N];    // declared, undefined
#define ARRAY_SIZE(x) sizeof(sizeof_array(x))

In C++11:

#include <vector>
using std::vector;
...
vector<int> vec1 { 10, 20, 30 };
// or
vector<int> vec2 = { 10, 20, 30 };

Using Boost list_of:

#include <vector>
#include <boost/assign/list_of.hpp>
using std::vector;
...
vector<int> vec = boost::assign::list_of(10)(20)(30);

Using Boost assign:

#include <vector>
#include <boost/assign/std/vector.hpp>
using std::vector;
...
vector<int> vec;
vec += 10, 20, 30;

Conventional STL:

#include <vector>
using std::vector;
...
static const int arr[] = {10,20,30};
vector<int> vec (arr, arr + sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]) );

Conventional STL with generic macros:

#include <vector>
#define ARRAY_SIZE(ar) (sizeof(ar) / sizeof(ar[0])
#define ARRAY_END(ar) (ar + ARRAY_SIZE(ar))
using std::vector;
...
static const int arr[] = {10,20,30};
vector<int> vec (arr, ARRAY_END(arr));

Conventional STL with a vector initializer macro:

#include <vector>
#define INIT_FROM_ARRAY(ar) (ar, ar + sizeof(ar) / sizeof(ar[0])
using std::vector;
...
static const int arr[] = {10,20,30};
vector<int> vec INIT_FROM_ARRAY(arr);

I tend to declare

template< typename T, size_t N >
std::vector<T> makeVector( const T (&data)[N] )
{
    return std::vector<T>(data, data+N);
}

in a utility header somewhere and then all that's required is:

const double values[] = { 2.0, 1.0, 42.0, -7 };
std::vector<double> array = makeVector(values);

Before C++ 11:

Method 1

vector<int> v(arr, arr + sizeof(arr)/sizeof(arr[0]));
vector<int>v;

Method 2

 v.push_back(SomeValue);