=====find===== Syntax: #include iterator find( const key_type& key ); const_iterator find( const key_type& key ) const; The find() function returns an iterator to the matching key/value pair, or an iterator to the end of the map if key is not found. find() runs in [[/complexity|logarithmic time]]. For example, the following code uses the find() function to determine how many times a user entered a certain word: map stringCounts; string str; while( cin >> str ) ++stringCounts[str]; map::iterator iter = stringCounts.find("spoon"); if( iter != stringCounts.end() ) { cout << "You typed '" << iter->first << "' " << iter->second << " time(s)" << endl; } When run with this input: my spoon is too big. my spoon is TOO big! my SPOON is TOO big! I am a BANANA! ...the above code produces this output: You typed 'spoon' 2 time(s)