std::unique_copy in C++

std::unique is used to remove duplicates of any element present consecutively in a range[first, last). It performs this task for all the sub-groups present in the range having the same element present consecutively. But, what if we don't want to alter with the original range and just want the result of std::unique to be copied into another container, for this we have another function defined in , i.e., std::unique_copy(). In this, only the first element from every consecutive group of equivalent elements in the range [first, last) is copied. It can be used in two ways as shown below:

1. Comparing elements using ==: Syntax:

template 
 OutputIterator unique_copy (InputIterator first, InputIterator last,
 OutputIterator result);

first: Forward iterator to the first element in the container.
last: Forward iterator to the last element in the container.
result: Output iterator to the initial position 
of the container where the resulting range of values is stored. 
The value being pointed should be compatible with the value being assigned.

Return Value: An iterator pointing to the end 
of the copied range, which contains no consecutive duplicates.

1. Output:

Before: 10 10 30 30 30 100 10 300 300 70 70 80
After: 10 30 100 10 30 70 80 

1. Here, in this vector, all the sub-groups having consecutive duplicate elements have been reduced to only one element, and have been copied to vector v1.
2. By comparing using a pre-defined function: Syntax:

template 
 OutputIterator unique_copy (InputIterator first, InputIterator last,
 OutputIterator result, BinaryPredicate pred);

Here, first, last and result are the same as previous case.

Pred: Binary function that accepts two elements 
in the range as argument, and returns a value convertible to bool. 
The value returned indicates whether both arguments are considered equivalent
(if true, they are equivalent and one of them is removed).
The function shall not modify any of its arguments.
This can either be a function pointer or a function object.

Return Value: It returns an iterator pointing to the 
end of the copied range, which contains no consecutive duplicates.

1. Output:

Before: You arre vvvisiting GFG
After: You are visiting GFG

Where can it be used ?

1. std::unique_copy can be used to remove all the duplicate elements (whether consecutive or not) and store the resultant in another container, without affecting the previous container. 

1. Output:

v = 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 7 7 8 10
v1 = 1 2 3 7 8 10

1. Explanation: Here, we have firstly sorted the vector to make duplicate elements consecutive and then applied std::unique_copy to remove duplicate elements and store the unique elements in another container.
2. We can also use std::unique_copy to find whether a container contains only unique elements or not. This is just an extension of the above concept of storing the unique elements in another container. After this, we can just compare the two containers to check whether they are equal or not. 

1. Output:

v1 contains only unique elements

1. Explanation: Firstly, we removed the duplicate elements and stored the resultant in another container and then compared the resultant container with the previous container, if both are same, this means that the previous container consisted of only unique elements, and there is no duplicate element.