get part of std::tuple

With help of a compile-time integer list:

#include <cstdlib>

template <size_t... n>
struct ct_integers_list {
    template <size_t m>
    struct push_back
    {
        typedef ct_integers_list<n..., m> type;
    };
};

template <size_t max>
struct ct_iota_1
{
    typedef typename ct_iota_1<max-1>::type::template push_back<max>::type type;
};

template <>
struct ct_iota_1<0>
{
    typedef ct_integers_list<> type;
};

We could construct the tail simply by parameter-pack expansion:

#include <tuple>

template <size_t... indices, typename Tuple>
auto tuple_subset(const Tuple& tpl, ct_integers_list<indices...>)
    -> decltype(std::make_tuple(std::get<indices>(tpl)...))
{
    return std::make_tuple(std::get<indices>(tpl)...);
    // this means:
    //   make_tuple(get<indices[0]>(tpl), get<indices[1]>(tpl), ...)
}

template <typename Head, typename... Tail>
std::tuple<Tail...> tuple_tail(const std::tuple<Head, Tail...>& tpl)
{
    return tuple_subset(tpl, typename ct_iota_1<sizeof...(Tail)>::type());
    // this means:
    //   tuple_subset<1, 2, 3, ..., sizeof...(Tail)-1>(tpl, ..)
}

Usage:

#include <cstdio>

int main()
{
    auto a = std::make_tuple(1, "hello", 7.9);
    auto b = tuple_tail(a);

    const char* s = nullptr;
    double d = 0.0;
    std::tie(s, d) = b;
    printf("%s %g\n", s, d);
    // prints:   hello 7.9

    return 0;
}

(On ideone: http://ideone.com/Tzv7v; the code works in g++ 4.5 to 4.7 and clang++ 3.0)

There may be an easier way, but this is a start. The "tail" function template returns a copied tuple with all values of the original except the first. This compiles with GCC 4.6.2 in C++0x-mode.

template<size_t I>
struct assign {
  template<class ResultTuple, class SrcTuple>
  static void x(ResultTuple& t, const SrcTuple& tup) {
    std::get<I - 1>(t) = std::get<I>(tup);
    assign<I - 1>::x(t, tup);
  }
};

template<>
struct assign<1> {
  template<class ResultTuple, class SrcTuple>
  static void x(ResultTuple& t, const SrcTuple& tup) {
    std::get<0>(t) = std::get<1>(tup);
  }
};


template<class Tup> struct tail_helper;

template<class Head, class... Tail>
struct tail_helper<std::tuple<Head, Tail...>> {
  typedef typename std::tuple<Tail...> type;
  static type tail(const std::tuple<Head, Tail...>& tup) {
    type t;
    assign<std::tuple_size<type>::value>::x(t, tup);
    return t;
  }
};

template<class Tup>
typename tail_helper<Tup>::type tail(const Tup& tup) {
  return tail_helper<Tup>::tail(tup);
}

With C++17, you can use std::apply:

template <typename Head, typename... Tail>
std::tuple<Tail...> tuple_tail(const std::tuple<Head, Tail...>& t)
{
    return apply([](auto head, auto... tail) {
        return std::make_tuple(tail...)};
    }, t);
}