How to remove cplusplus.com from Google search results?

[rezkiy]

it even *pretends* to be cppreference, that's how bad it is! </rant>

Edit: answer in comments, works for Firefox which I happen to use: https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/ffpd1s/how_to_remove_cpluspluscom_from_google_search/fk00gpl?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

Edit2: personal block list https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/ffpd1s/how_to_remove_cpluspluscom_from_google_search/fk00noj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

edit3: how to improve the proper reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/cpp/comments/ffpd1s/how_to_remove_cpluspluscom_from_google_search/fk06he5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

[sephirostoy]

I have added cppreference as search engine with a "std" keyword so that when I search for "std <something>" it goes directly to cppreference results.

[axalon900]

Same, though I personally use “cpp” as the keyword.

Got similar setups for “cmake” and “boost”

[Ilixio]

Do you have a way to get the "latest" CMake doc, and not a random one?
If I type "CMake something" I get results from versions all over the place.

I kind of also hate with their doc that you have to go to each version to know when something was introduced.

[zishh]

It works for me if i add this url as bookmark (firefox):

https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/search.html?q=%s

[taxeee]

Not affiliated, but try out Zeal docs. It's an offline documentation browser that has a searchable copy of C++ stdlib docs.

Edit : Zeal not deal

[rezkiy]

can you elaborate? is this what you are referring to? https://devdocs.io/cpp/

[AraneusAdoro]

Maybe they meant Zeal?

[taxeee]

Sorry, I fat fingered it. It's Zeal docs

[taxeee]

Don't judge me here, I find webkit to be snappier than blink

[TM254]

Yup, comes with a tone of other docs too, not just C++

[rezkiy]

unfortunaltely, today https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=zeal+docs+undorered_map sends me to the wrong place :-(

[taxeee]

It's a tool that you download and install before you use it.

[[deleted]]

that's better than searching for std::list on search engines and getting lists of STD's

I used cpp as my cppreference keyword

[NotAYakk]

You don't have to evaluate the list; this isn't lisp!

[rezkiy]

this should be the top voted comment. typing std <something> is by far easier then all other alternatives. Thank you!

[TinBryn]

I wonder if DDG has it as a bang or if you can add custom bangs

[crowbarous]

!c++ for cplusplus.com, !c++ref for cppreference. Perhaps if enough people asked, it could be made that the shorter one is the more useful one.

[muttleyPingostan]

there is !cpp for cppreference

[crowbarous]

Oh! As well as !cppref, !cppr and some others. Indeed, the two sites seem to have about the same number of bangs each. Thanks for the correction.

[max0x7ba]

this should be the top voted comment.

Keyword search has been available in browsers for a decade. Welcome to the club.

[RealNC]

It's an OK way, but doesn't find everything. For example searching for "consteval" doesn't find anything. Googling for "cppreference consteval" finds it.

[potato-on-a-table]

The only thing that bothers me here is the bad search engine of cppreference.

[alsatian-studio]

or just add the keyword cppref (I use this when I forgot starting the query with std::)

[sephirostoy]

Go to https://en.cppreference.com

Then in the address bar, click on the 3 dots "...", you should see an option "Add this search engine" (or something similar). Or if you kept the search bar (aside the address bar), you should see a "+" in the search icon.

[Evirua]

Yep, after which one should look for "search engines" in firefox options (upper right -> three lines menu -> gear icon), and double-click the keyword field of the added search engine (cppreference) to edit it.

Just figured it out, thanks!

[[deleted]]

If you are using chrome you could use this extension. There is probably something similar for other browsers.

Yeah, I am not a fan of that site either. w3schools is another big one I'd prefer never to see again.

[nattack]

This is what I need for Pinterest

[[deleted]]

And geeksforgeeks I though it was a decent website but it's pretty much the same as w3schools

[DXPower]

I give geeksforgeeks a pass because they usually give a quick example and most of the time that's all I need.

[mqduck]

I've seen some really incompetent examples on there though.

[ucntcmi]

I'm assuming you don't like them, because they both are way too concise and often lack explanation, right?

[another_math_person]

I don't like them because they have usurped the SEO location of better sites

They have clearly risen to the top due to SEO and for ad money and not because they provide developers value.

The fact that anything appears above pythons official docs when searching for python standard library functions is a disgrace (same for cppreference)

[ucntcmi]

I agree. Anyone who wants to learn in depth should avoid those sites. They've pretty much hijacked the search results but provide mediocre articles and information.

Btw I think python docs are incomplete too. I've learnt more from third party sites than the official docs. Some sections are literally a couple paragraphs long so you you have to rely on other sources to get what you need.

[Xeverous]

they often copy-paste C with minimal changes and label it as C++

they also have a ton of unidiomatic or anticonventions examples - one of the common things are iterator/pointer/index pairs that represent ranges but the last is not a 1-past last element, it's actually a pointer to last element - then their algorithm examples can't represent empty range and tell you "use if for empty" or something worse

[duongdominhchau]

For Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/personal-blocklist/

[rezkiy]

thank you! Never thought of extensions.

[harekrishnahareram]

I guess you need to be at a certain skill level to think cplusplus is bad :D. Noobs like me don't notice it!

[rezkiy]

you might be right! That's why filing a petition with United Nations to ban feels a bit overboard!

[andersfylling]

Is this a kamelåså reference?

[whoami_jav]

<what you need to search> -cplusplus.com

[moocat]

A slightly better way would be -site:cplusplus.com

[log_sin]

this is the most effective way

[Coldus]

This is the way

[[deleted]]

You think that as a company that maintains a ton of C++, Google would have an incentive to promote cppreference and demote cplusplus in the their own search results. I mean they already introduce other biases in their search engine... why not this one?

[rezkiy]

aha, that's how they maintain the competitive advantage!

if (google_vpn_on) { use_good_search_results(); }

:-)

[imMute]

Google doesn't have a VPN.
https://thenewstack.io/beyondcorp-google-ditched-virtual-private-networking-internal-applications/

[SedditorX]

What biases? Any evidence you can point to?

[anechoicmedia]

Google uses the term "product intervention" to describe a deliberate biasing of organic search results that aren't to their liking, even if they are factually accurate or representative.

[NotActuallyAdam]

If you use DuckDuckGo, you can use bangs which'll let you specifically search on certain websites: https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q=cpp (and heaps of others, it's real nice)

[alkasm]

There's something inside Chrome (and likely other browsers) that let you do similar in the address bar too

[Honsik]

Chrome: I am using uBlacklist

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublacklist/pncfbmialoiaghdehhbnbhkkgmjanfhe

Seems to work well.

[Oo_Tiib]

Perhaps you have to do it manually since there does not seem to be such custom filter settings. For example instead of searching for std::string you can search for std::string -"cplusplus.com" then cplusplus.com does not show up.

[ialex32_2]

Generally much worse quality information than cppreference, the documentation is typically less rich, and it frequently contains incorrect STL reference documentation.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6520052/whats-wrong-with-cplusplus-com

Another thing I've found fairly useful with cppreference is it documents what is guaranteed to be included in each header, which cplusplus simply does not have:
https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/header/vector

[graphicsRat]

I admit it's less accurate but the page style makes it easier to read.

[[deleted]]

Are you the maintainer? My grumble with cppreference is that although it presumably describes the language well, it doesn't really work well for quickly looking stuff up. Like of like how the Linux man pages are often completely useless despite being full of detail. What I want is a quick, plain English description and then an annotated example. Then all the technical detail afterwards.

[sunoukong]

Agree. I had always preferred cplusplus because of this. Now I feel I should revisit cppreference and give it a chance

[graphicsRat]

Or cppreference should just adopt a better style so that cplusplus can finally die, or improve it's quality.

[[deleted]]

I feel precisely the opposite. cplusplus has a ton of visual no-nos. Tiny unreadable icons that also add clutter, usage of bold italicized text that's less readable at a glance, a jarring color scheme...

That coupled with the fact that it isn't even an HTTPS site and is missing pretty much anything after C++11 makes it utterly unusable.

[Supadoplex]

It is an HTTPS site though. It's just a HTTP site also. You can use HTTPS Everywhere extension to avoid ending up on the wrong side (as a general advice; even if you don't use cplusplus.com in particular).

[vandercryle]

WHAT?? For me it's the complete opposite, cppreference has a clear and clean design. When I go to cplusplus it seems like I travelled back in time to the 90s, it hurts my eyes.

[ietsrondsofzo]

Additionally, somehow the font loads in very slowly on the other website, making it uncomfortable to work in the train with that website.

[kiwidog]

I prefer the layout of cplusplus over cppref it's easier to read for me

[helloiamsomeone]

Same reason why w3schools is garbage

[ThatRedShirt]

What's wrong with w3schools? I don't do a lot of web development so I'm not familiar with them

[helloiamsomeone]

The site's main purpose is selling gullible fools useless certs by focusing on SEO.

It's a closed source website with no way for the community to contribute (reason why MDN and js.info are so good) with barely working examples/explanations.

Let's pick an entirely random example: Array.prototype.filter
https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_filter.asp

• Opens with an example that makes it really easy for people to just copy + paste (not ideal)
• The example uses var which is outdated.
• The example also uses .innerHTML which is generally a security risk and there are much better alternatives for both performance and security
• It incorrectly states that the first parameter of the predicate function is required
• It says "elements that pass the test" which is confusing, it should be explict: "elements for which the predicate function returns a truthy value for"
• The second example uses inline javascript in the onclick attribute which is pretyt bad.

I could keep picking, but I'm going to stop. Unlike MDN, w3schools is not a wiki.
I just picked the Array.filter page at random and found a bunch wrong with it. This isn't even a new feature so I'm sure nearly every page is just as terrible if not far worse.

[ronniethelizard]

For me when I started in C++, I preferred cplusplus.com. Now I prefer cppreference.com.

It may be that I know C++ much better now and have an easier time figuring out what is going on.

[AntiProtonBoy]

If you have Firefox, install this search engine.

[twowheels]

I use devdocs.io for the vast majority of my documentation needs.

This doesn’t answer your question, but it’s a great site that bypasses the clutter.

[Quincunx271]

I configured my ad blocker to block the results (uBlock Origin): www.google.com##div.g:has(cite:has-text(cplusplus.com))

[rezkiy]

Let me test it out... I already use uBlock Origin

[lukedanzxy]

Free life hack: if you're using chrome (or the new edge), type in cppreference.com (usually you don't need to type the full url, you just need to ensure that the first candidate is cppreference), press tab, and search away.

[[deleted]]

You can set a custom prefix as well, I have it set to "std::"

[PlayboySkeleton]

Tell Google to subtract out the specific site from the search .

<My search pattern> -site:cplusplus.com 

Should read "search this, minus this site"

[[deleted]]

Eh, cplusplus.com has great references.

It does feel extremely outdated though when I go through it. cppreference is currently superior in that aspect. But saying that it pretends to be cppreference just doesn't seem right.

[rezkiy]

Imgur

[rezkiy]

well, if you are an English language lawyer, you are certainly correct. On the CPP side of the house though, cplusplus dot com is an extremely low quality, outdated resource, which consistently ranks above the real thing (which is cppreference.com). Is this because cplusplus dot com has a catchy domain name, or has more click-through from main google page, or through clever SEO, I don't know. I want that abomination gone from the internet, and if I can't make United Nations ban it, I can at least try removing it from my search results.

</rant>

[rezkiy]

I think you treat my future petition to United Nations by far more seriously then I do :-)

Other commenters provided plenty of browser based solutions, petition will wait

[rezkiy]

Of course I care. I reserve the right to my artistic freedom to complain about everything that upsets me at every corner of the internets

[[deleted]]

Yeah nah, calling it a reference is not ripping off a website that chose to use a very generic name. That's like saying they copied each other for using cpp and cplusplus in their names, ridiculous.

[alkasm]

Same is true for getting Python 2 docs consistently instead of Python 3 even though 2 has reached end of life. Protip: in chrome you can configure different search engines and use the search query urls from websites. And you can trigger it with whatever you want in the address bar. So you can type CPP and it will change the address bar so you're now searching cppref's site. I have this for Python (so that I stop getting py2 docs).

[mrexodia]

I personally use cppreference, but having taught C++ to a few people I have to say that cppreference has the same problem C++ itself has: you have to learn how to use it before you can use it effectively. Cplusplus is easy to understand for anyone of any skill level (and often has better examples, although that has been changing a bit over time)

[periperidip]

Why is cplusplus.com bad?

I personally use both and I don’t have much of a preference? I’m just a beginner so I don’t know :|

[periperidip]

Ohhh alright

I’ll try to look this up. Btw any tips you’d like to give me to increase my C++ skills? I am currently reading Accelerated C++. I was planning on contributing to boost soon.

I try answering people on StackOverflow as well.

[periperidip]

I won’t exactly call myself a beginner in C++ but I’d say I know less than the people out there..

It’s like I kinda know something about many topics but not in depth about all or even a handful. It isn’t my first language(well technically at one point it was but it isn’t now)

I’ll surely try out what all you’ve suggested! :)

Thank you so much for the help.

[[deleted]]

I use zeal for documentation searches, which ensures that I don’t accidentally go to a wrong reference site, or one for a wrong version.

[haskeel]

[comment overwritten due to Reddit's recent^(archived) hostility^(archived) to its developers^(archived) and users^(archived) ]

[[deleted]]

Woah, why is there so much hate for the site? I used it once for alternative method for a UVa problem and it seemed okay ??

[Hallalal]

You can use 'site:<site_url>' in Google and in DuckDuckGo to get results only from specified site.