[#BloombergLP-bsltf-InputIteratorUtil-begin-06b]
= xref:BloombergLP.adoc[BloombergLP]::xref:BloombergLP/bsltf.adoc[bsltf]::xref:BloombergLP/bsltf/InputIteratorUtil.adoc[InputIteratorUtil]::begin
:relfileprefix: ../../../
:mrdocs:

Return an `InputIterator` referring to the first element of the specified `container` or a null iterator if `container` is empty&period;

== Synopsis

Declared in `&lt;bsltf&lowbar;inputiterator&period;h&gt;`

[source,cpp,subs="verbatim,replacements,macros,-callouts"]
----
template&lt;class CONTIGUOUS&lowbar;CONTAINER&gt;
static
xref:BloombergLP/bsltf/InputIterator.adoc[InputIterator&lt;CONTIGUOUS&lowbar;CONTAINER::value&lowbar;type const&gt;]
begin(CONTIGUOUS&lowbar;CONTAINER const& container);
----

== Return Value

an iterator to the first element, or a null iterator if empty

== Parameters

[cols="1,4"]
|===
| Name| Description
| *container*
| contiguous container providing the range
|===


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