c++ - Iterator invalidation rules

Since this question draws so many votes and kind of becomes an FAQ, I guess it would be better to write a separate answer to mention one significant difference between C++03 and C++11 regarding the impact of std::vector's insertion operation on the validity of iterators and references with respect to reserve() and capacity(), which the most upvoted answer failed to notice.

C++ 03:

Reallocation invalidates all the references, pointers, and iterators
referring to the elements in the sequence. It is guaranteed that no
reallocation takes place during insertions that happen after a call to
reserve() until the time when an insertion would make the size of the
vector greater than the size specified in the most recent call to
reserve().

C++11:

Reallocation invalidates all the references, pointers, and iterators
referring to the elements in the sequence. It is guaranteed that no
reallocation takes place during insertions that happen after a call to
reserve() until the time when an insertion would make the size of the
vector greater than the value of capacity().

So in C++03, it is not "unless the new container size is greater than the previous capacity (in which case all iterators and references are invalidated)" as mentioned in the other answer, instead, it should be "greater than the size specified in the most recent call to reserve()". This is one thing that C++03 differs from C++11. In C++03, once an insert() causes the size of the vector to reach the value specified in the previous reserve() call (which could well be smaller than the current capacity() since a reserve() could result a bigger capacity() than asked for), any subsequent insert() could cause reallocation and invalidate all the iterators and references. In C++11, this won't happen and you can always trust capacity() to know with certainty that the next reallocation won't take place before the size overpasses capacity().

In conclusion, if you are working with a C++03 vector and you want to make sure a reallocation won't happen when you perform insertion, it's the value of the argument you previously passed to reserve() that you should check the size against, not the return value of a call to capacity(), otherwise you may get yourself surprised at a "premature" reallocation.