fmt::join doesn't handle move-only iterators

[tcbrindle]

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C++20 allows iterators for input ranges to be move-only, for example std::ranges::basic_istream_view::iterator. Unfortunately fmt::join_view copies iterators in various places, meaning it can't be used with such ranges:

int main()
{
    std::istringstream iss("1 2 3 4 5");

    auto view = std::views::istream<int>(iss);

    fmt::println("{}", fmt::join(view, ", ")); // Error, use of deleted iterator copy constructor
}

https://godbolt.org/z/1ndGahqb7

[vitaut]

~~Fixed by #3800 (thanks).~~

[vitaut]

Or is it unrelated?

[tcbrindle]

Or is it unrelated?

This is a different to #3800

[tcbrindle]

There are a couple of places in the join_view constructor where iterators are copied, but these are easily solved with std::move. The difficulty is with formatter<join_view>::format():

https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/blob/810d1750f1579f19d842b6f3ca6671f714375444/include/fmt/ranges.h#L587-L603

Line 590 takes a copy of the iterator, which it then modifies. Because the join_view is passed to this function as a const reference, there's no way we can move the iterator out of it -- and we also can't directly operate on the stored iterator, as it's const.

It seems like we need to take the join_view argument to format() by mutable & rather than const&, but making this change results in fmt considering join_view to be non-formattable. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the library to understand why that happens. I also tried using a forwarding reference, but this always deduces to const& and so doesn't help.

The generic range support without join (i.e. fmt::format("{}", my_range)) handles move-only iterators just fine, so this definitely seems like it should be solvable, but I don't understand enough about the fmt internals to follow what's going on.

[vitaut]

It seems like we need to take the join_view argument to format() by mutable & rather than const&, but making this change results in fmt considering join_view to be non-formattable.

This should work. What error do you get?

[tcbrindle]

Changing the signature of formatter<join_view>::format to

 template <typename FormatContext> 
 auto format(join_view<It, Sentinel, Char>& value, 
             FormatContext& ctx) const -> decltype(ctx.out())

(that is, removing the const from the join_view argument) generates the following from Clang:

/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/base.h:1522:63: error: implicit instantiation of undefined template 'fmt::detail::type_is_unformattable_for<const fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, char>'
 1522 |     type_is_unformattable_for<T, typename Context::char_type> _;
      |                                                               ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/base.h:1908:20: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::detail::make_arg<true, fmt::generic_context<std::back_insert_iterator<std::string>, char>, const fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>' requested here
 1908 |   return {{detail::make_arg<NUM_ARGS <= detail::max_packed_args, Context>(
      |                    ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:201:14: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::make_format_args<fmt::generic_context<std::back_insert_iterator<std::string>, char>, const fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 1UL, 0UL, 15ULL, 0>' requested here
  201 |         fmt::make_format_args<basic_format_context<OutputIt, Char>>(args...);
      |              ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:438:6: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::detail::spec_field<char, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>::format<std::back_insert_iterator<std::string>, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>>' requested here
  438 |   cf.format(std::back_inserter(s), args...);
      |      ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:472:17: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::format<fmt::detail::spec_field<char, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, char, 0>' requested here
  472 |     return fmt::format(compiled, std::forward<Args>(args)...);
      |                 ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/test/compile-test.cc:185:28: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::format<FMT_COMPILE_STRING, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>' requested here
  185 |   EXPECT_EQ("0102af", fmt::format(FMT_COMPILE("{:02x}"), fmt::join(data, "")));
      |                            ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/base.h:1497:8: note: template is declared here
 1497 | struct type_is_unformattable_for;
      |        ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/base.h:1525:7: error: static assertion failed due to requirement 'formattable': Cannot format an argument. To make type T formattable provide a formatter<T> specialization: https://fmt.dev/latest/api.html#udt
 1525 |       formattable,
      |       ^~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from /Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/test/compile-test.cc:8:
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:203:16: error: no matching member function for call to 'format'
  203 |     return fmt.format(get_arg_checked<T, N>(args...), ctx);
      |            ~~~~^~~~~~
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:438:6: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::detail::spec_field<char, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>::format<std::back_insert_iterator<std::string>, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>>' requested here
  438 |   cf.format(std::back_inserter(s), args...);
      |      ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/compile.h:472:17: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::format<fmt::detail::spec_field<char, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, char, 0>' requested here
  472 |     return fmt::format(compiled, std::forward<Args>(args)...);
      |                 ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/test/compile-test.cc:185:28: note: in instantiation of function template specialization 'fmt::format<FMT_COMPILE_STRING, fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>, 0>' requested here
  185 |   EXPECT_EQ("0102af", fmt::format(FMT_COMPILE("{:02x}"), fmt::join(data, "")));
      |                            ^
/Users/tristan/Coding/fmt/include/fmt/ranges.h:588:8: note: candidate function template not viable: 1st argument ('const fmt::join_view<unsigned char *, unsigned char *>') would lose const qualifier
  588 |   auto format(join_view<It, Sentinel, Char>& value,
      |        ^      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3 errors generated.

From the last line, it seems that something is trying to pass a const join_view to the format function, but I'm not sure where that call is coming from

[tcbrindle]

GCC gives a little more context: an error occurs in the return value of spec_field::format:

https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/blob/3c9608416aed5b6e671f06c5fd585860573bbce5/include/fmt/compile.h#L197-L204

Here, get_arg_checked<T, N>(args...) returns const join_view&, which causes the error as it cannot be passed to the join_view's modified format function. get_checked_arg says

https://github.com/fmtlib/fmt/blob/3c9608416aed5b6e671f06c5fd585860573bbce5/include/fmt/compile.h#L128-L130

so I guess adding the const& is intentional, but I don't get why this triggers an error when using join and not with plain fmt::format("{}", my_range)?

[vitaut]

Looks like we need to propagate (lack of) constness during format string compilation. Currently it passes everything by const&.

[dvirtz]

I get a similar error without join: https://godbolt.org/z/nqGx9Yb3T

/opt/compiler-explorer/libs/fmt/trunk/include/fmt/ranges.h:473:44: error: use of deleted function 'std::counted_iterator<std::generator<int>::_Iterator>::counted_iterator(const std::counted_iterator<std::generator<int>::_Iterator>&)'
  473 |     if (is_debug) return write_debug_string(out, it, end);

[vitaut]

Fixed by #3946.