I know this is an old post, but I had the same question and I've finally found an answer.
Looking at the docs I would guess that the Subtractability of an interval_map and the aggregate on overlap capabilities guarantee that the substraction works as a delete operation.
It turned out to be a very fruitful concept to propagate the addition
or subtraction to the interval_map's associated values in cases where
the insertion of an interval value pair into an interval_map resulted
in a collision of the inserted interval value pair with interval value
pairs, that are already in the interval_map. This operation
propagation is called aggregate on overlap.
Let's say I have to match intervals of unix timestamps to some record ids (integers).
Working from this answer I've come up with this MWE:
// interval_map_mwe.cpp
#include <map>
#include <set>
#include <climits>
#include <boost/icl/interval.hpp>
#include <boost/icl/interval_map.hpp>
// Set of IDs that cover a time interval
typedef std::set<unsigned int> IDSet_t;
// interval tree from intervals of timestamps to a set of ids
typedef boost::icl::interval_map<time_t, IDSet_t> IMap_t;
// a time interval
typedef boost::icl::interval<time_t> Interval_t;
#include <iostream>
// from https://stackoverflow.com/a/22027957
inline std::ostream& operator<< (std::ostream& S, const IDSet_t& X)
{
S << '(';
for (IDSet_t::const_iterator it = X.begin(); it != X.end(); ++it) {
if (it != X.begin()) {
S << ',';
}
S << *it;
}
S << ')';
return S;
}
int main(int argc, const char *argv[])
{
(void)argc; // suppress warning
(void)argv; // suppress warning
IMap_t m;
IDSet_t s;
s.insert(1);
s.insert(2);
m += std::make_pair(Interval_t::right_open(100, 200), s);
s = IDSet_t();
s.insert(3);
s.insert(4);
m += std::make_pair(Interval_t::right_open(200, 300), s);
s = IDSet_t();
s.insert(5);
s.insert(6);
m += std::make_pair(Interval_t::right_open(150, 250), s);
std::cout << "Initial map: " << std::endl;
std::cout << m << std::endl;
// find operation
IMap_t::const_iterator it = m.find(175);
std::cout << "Interval that covers 175: ";
std::cout << it->first << std::endl;
std::cout << "Ids in interval: " << it->second << std::endl;
// partially remove 5 from interval (160,180)
s = IDSet_t();
s.insert(5);
m -= std::make_pair(Interval_t::right_open(160, 180), s);
std::cout << "map with 5 partially removed:" << std::endl;
std::cout << m << std::endl;
// completelly remove 6
s = IDSet_t();
s.insert(6);
// Note: maybe the range of the interval could be shorter if you can somehow obtain the minimum and maximum times
m -= std::make_pair(Interval_t::right_open(0, UINT_MAX), s);
std::cout << "map without 6: " << std::endl;
std::cout << m << std::endl;
// remove a time interval
m -= Interval_t::right_open(160, 170);
std::cout << "map with time span removed: " << std::endl;
std::cout << m << std::endl;
return 0;
}
Compiling with g++ 4.4.7:
g++ -Wall -Wextra -std=c++98 -I /usr/include/boost148/ interval_map_mwe.cpp
The output I get is
Initial map:
{([100,150)->{1 2 })([150,200)->{1 2 5 6 })([200,250)->{3 4 5 6 })([250,300)->{3 4 })}
Interval that covers 175: [150,200)
Ids in interval: (1,2,5,6)
map with 5 partially removed:
{([100,150)->{1 2 })([150,160)->{1 2 5 6 })([160,180)->{1 2 6 })([180,200)->{1 2 5 6 })([200,250)->{3 4 5 6 })([250,300)->{3 4 })}
map without 6:
{([100,150)->{1 2 })([150,160)->{1 2 5 })([160,180)->{1 2 })([180,200)->{1 2 5 })([200,250)->{3 4 5 })([250,300)->{3 4 })}
map with time span removed:
{([100,150)->{1 2 })([150,160)->{1 2 5 })([170,180)->{1 2 })([180,200)->{1 2 5 })([200,250)->{3 4 5 })([250,300)->{3 4 })}
Note: The numbers in the MWE can be considered random. I find it easier to reason about the example with small numbers.
