---
title: "begin Function | Microsoft Docs"
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# begin Function
Returns an iterator that points to the beginning of a collection that is accessed by the specified interface parameter.  
  
## Syntax  
  
```  
  
template <typename T>   
    ::Platform::Collections::VectorIterator<T>   
    begin(  
          IVector<T>^ v         );  
  
template <typename T>   
    ::Platform::Collections::VectorViewIterator<T>   
    begin(  
          IVectorView<T>^ v  
         );   
  
template <typename T>   
    ::Platform::Collections::InputIterator<T>   
    begin(  
          IIterable<T>^ i         );  
  
```  
  
#### Parameters  
 `T`  
 A template type parameter.  
  
 `v`  
 A collection of Vector\<T> or VectorView\<T> objects that are accessed by an IVector\<T> or IVectorView\<T> interface.  
  
 `i`  
 A collection of arbitrary Windows Runtime objects that are accessed by an IIterable\<T> interface.  
  
### Return Value  
 An iterator that points to the beginning of the collection.  
  
### Remarks  
 The first two template functions return iterators, and the third template function returns an input iterator.  
  
 The VectorIterator object that is returned by begin is a proxy iterator that stores elements of type VectorProxy\<T>. However, the proxy object is almost never visible to user code. For more information, see [Collections (C++/CX)](../cppcx/collections-c-cx.md).  
  
### Requirements  
 **Header:** collection.h  
  
 **Namespace:** Windows::Foundation::Collections  
  
## See Also  
 [Windows::Foundation::Collections Namespace](../cppcx/windows-foundation-collections-namespace-c-cx.md)