##### cppreference.com

##### Search

Create account

##### Namespaces

- Page
- Discussion

##### Variants

##### Views

- View
- Edit
- History

##### Actions

# std::array::front

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | container‎ | array

[edit template]

reference front(); |  | (since C++11)
constexpr const_reference front() const; |  | (since C++11)

Returns a reference to the first element in the container.

Calling `front` on an empty container is undefined.

### [edit] Parameters

(none)

### [edit] Return value

reference to the first element

### [edit] Complexity

Constant

### [edit] Notes

For a container `c`, the expression c.front() is equivalent to *c.begin().

Const version is marked as constexpr since c++14.

### [edit] Example

The following code uses `front` to display the first element of a std::array<char>:

Run this code

    #include <array>
    #include <iostream>

    int main()
    {
        std::array<char> letters {'o', 'm', 'g', 'w', 't', 'f'};

        if (!letters.empty()) {
            std::cout << "The first character is: " << letters.front() << '\n';
        }
    }

Output:

    The first character is o

### See also

back | access the last element (public member function) [edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.cppreference.com/mwiki/index.php?title=cpp/container/array/front&oldid=50439"