How can I loop through a C++ map of maps?

How can I loop through a std::map in C++? My map is defined as:

std::map< std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string> >

For example, the above container holds data like this:

m["name1"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name1"]["value2"] = "data2";
m["name2"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name2"]["value2"] = "data2";
m["name3"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name3"]["value2"] = "data2";

How can I loop through this map and access the various values?

Old question but the remaining answers are outdated as of C++11 - you can use a ranged based for loop and simply do:

std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string>> mymap;

for(auto const &ent1 : mymap) {
  // ent1.first is the first key
  for(auto const &ent2 : ent1.second) {
    // ent2.first is the second key
    // ent2.second is the data
  }
}

this should be much cleaner than the earlier versions, and avoids unnecessary copies.

Some favour replacing the comments with explicit definitions of reference variables (which get optimised away if unused):

for(auto const &ent1 : mymap) {
  auto const &outer_key = ent1.first;
  auto const &inner_map = ent1.second;
  for(auto const &ent2 : inner_map) {
    auto const &inner_key   = ent2.first;
    auto const &inner_value = ent2.second;
  }
}

You can use an iterator.

typedef std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string>>::iterator it_type;
for(it_type iterator = m.begin(); iterator != m.end(); iterator++) {
    // iterator->first = key
    // iterator->second = value
    // Repeat if you also want to iterate through the second map.
}

for(std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string> >::iterator outer_iter=map.begin(); outer_iter!=map.end(); ++outer_iter) {
    for(std::map<std::string, std::string>::iterator inner_iter=outer_iter->second.begin(); inner_iter!=outer_iter->second.end(); ++inner_iter) {
        std::cout << inner_iter->second << std::endl;
    }
}

or nicer in C++0x:

for(auto outer_iter=map.begin(); outer_iter!=map.end(); ++outer_iter) {
    for(auto inner_iter=outer_iter->second.begin(); inner_iter!=outer_iter->second.end(); ++inner_iter) {
        std::cout << inner_iter->second << std::endl;
    }
}

With C++17 (or later), you can use the "structured bindings" feature, which lets you define multiple variables, with different names, using a single tuple/pair. Example:

for (const auto& [name, description] : planet_descriptions) {
    std::cout << "Planet " << name << ":\n" << description << "\n\n";
}

The original proposal (by luminaries Bjarne Stroustrup, Herb Sutter and Gabriel Dos Reis) is fun to read (and the suggested syntax is more intuitive IMHO); there's also the proposed wording for the standard which is boring to read but is closer to what will actually go in.

Do something like this:

typedef std::map<std::string, std::string> InnerMap;
typedef std::map<std::string, InnerMap> OuterMap;

Outermap mm;

...//set the initial values

for (OuterMap::iterator i = mm.begin(); i != mm.end(); ++i) {
    InnerMap &im = i->second;
    for (InnerMap::iterator ii = im.begin(); ii != im.end(); ++ii) {
        std::cout << "map[" 
                  << i->first 
                  << "][" 
                  << ii->first 
                  << "] =" 
                  << ii->second 
                  << '\n';
    }
}   

C++11:

std::map< std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string> > m;
m["name1"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name1"]["value2"] = "data2";
m["name2"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name2"]["value2"] = "data2";
m["name3"]["value1"] = "data1";
m["name3"]["value2"] = "data2";

for (auto i : m)
	for (auto j : i.second)
		cout << i.first.c_str() << ":" << j.first.c_str() << ":" << j.second.c_str() << endl;

output:

name1:value1:data1
name1:value2:data2
name2:value1:data1
name2:value2:data2
name3:value1:data1
name3:value2:data2

use std::map< std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string> >::const_iterator when map is const.

As einpoklum mentioned in their answer, since C++17 you can also use structured binding declarations. I want to extend on that by providing a full solution for iterating over a map of maps in a comfortable way:

int main() {
    std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string>> m {
        {"name1", {{"value1", "data1"}, {"value2", "data2"}}},
        {"name2", {{"value1", "data1"}, {"value2", "data2"}}},
        {"name3", {{"value1", "data1"}, {"value2", "data2"}}}
    };

    for (const auto& [k1, v1] : m)
        for (const auto& [k2, v2] : v1)
            std::cout << "m[" << k1 << "][" << k2 << "]=" << v2 << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

Output:

>m[name1][value1]=data1
>m[name1][value2]=data2
>m[name2][value1]=data1
>m[name2][value2]=data2
>m[name3][value1]=data1
>m[name3][value2]=data2

Note 1: For filling the map, I used an initializer list (which is a C++11 feature). This can sometimes be handy to keep fixed initializations compact.

Note 2: If you want to modify the map m within the loops, you have to remove the const keywords.

Code on Coliru

First solution is Use range_based for loop, like:

Note: When range_expression’s type is std::map then a range_declaration’s type is std::pair.

for ( range_declaration : range_expression )      
  //loop_statement

Code 1:

typedef std::map<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string>> StringToStringMap;

StringToStringMap my_map;

for(const auto &pair1 : my_map) 
{
   // Type of pair1 is std::pair<std::string, std::map<std::string, std::string>>
   // pair1.first point to std::string (first key)
   // pair1.second point to std::map<std::string, std::string> (inner map)
   for(const auto &pair2 : pair1.second) 
   {
       // pair2.first is the second(inner) key
       // pair2.second is the value
   }
}

The Second Solution:

Code 2

typedef std::map<std::string, std::string> StringMap;
typedef std::map<std::string, StringMap> StringToStringMap;

StringToStringMap my_map;

for(StringToStringMap::iterator it1 = my_map.begin(); it1 != my_map.end(); it1++)
{
    // it1->first point to first key
    // it2->second point to inner map
    for(StringMap::iterator it2 = it1->second.begin(); it2 != it1->second.end(); it2++)
     {
        // it2->second point to value
        // it2->first point to second(inner) key 
     }
 }