Does std::map::iterator return a copy of value or a value itself?

I want to add a follow up answer to this question for people using C++11 iterators…

The following code:

std::map<std::string, std::string> m({{"a","b"},{"c","d"}});
for (auto i : m)
{
    std::cout << i.first << ": " << i.second << std::endl;
}

does copy the key and value since “auto” is a value by default, not a const reference (at least that’s how it behaves clang 3.1).

Additionally, the code:

std::map<std::string, std::string> m({{"a","b"},{"c","d"}});
for (const std::pair<std::string,std:string>& i : m)
{
    std::cout << i.first << ": " << i.second << std::endl;
}

also copies the key and value since the correct code should be:

std::map<std::string, std::string> m({{"a","b"},{"c","d"}});
for (const auto& i : m)
{
    std::cout << i.first << ": " << i.second << std::endl;
}

or

std::map<std::string, std::string> m({{"a","b"},{"c","d"}});
for (const std::pair<const std::string,std:string>& i : m)
{
    std::cout << i.first << ": " << i.second << std::endl;
}