std::midpoint

Since C++20

Header: <numeric>

Computes the midpoint of the integers, floating-points, or pointers a and b.

# Declarations

template< class T >
constexpr T midpoint( T a, T b ) noexcept;

(since C++20)

template< class T >
constexpr T* midpoint( T* a, T* b );

(since C++20)

# Parameters

a, b: integers, floating-points, or pointer values

# Notes

Overload (2) can be simply implemented as return a + (b - a) / 2; on common platforms. However, such implementation is not guaranteed to be portable, because there may be some platforms where creating an array with number of elements greater than PTRDIFF_MAX is possible, and b - a may result in undefined behavior even if both b and a point to elements in the same array.

# Example

#include <cstdint>
#include <iostream>
#include <limits>
#include <numeric>
 
int main()
{
    std::uint32_t a = std::numeric_limits<std::uint32_t>::max();
    std::uint32_t b = std::numeric_limits<std::uint32_t>::max() - 2;
 
    std::cout << "a: " << a << '\n'
              << "b: " << b << '\n'
              << "Incorrect (overflow and wrapping): " << (a + b) / 2 << '\n'
              << "Correct: " << std::midpoint(a, b) << "\n\n";
 
    auto on_pointers = [](int i, int j)
    {
        char const* text = "0123456789";
        char const* p = text + i;
        char const* q = text + j;
        std::cout << "std::midpoint('" << *p << "', '" << *q << "'): '"
                  << *std::midpoint(p, q) << "'\n";
    };
 
    on_pointers(2, 4);
    on_pointers(2, 5);
    on_pointers(5, 2);
    on_pointers(2, 6);
}

# See also

lerp