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Tcl_CreateHashEntry(3)




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NAME

       Tcl_InitHashTable,    Tcl_InitCustomHashTable,    Tcl_InitObjHashTable,
       Tcl_DeleteHashTable,     Tcl_CreateHashEntry,      Tcl_DeleteHashEntry,
       Tcl_FindHashEntry,  Tcl_GetHashValue, Tcl_SetHashValue, Tcl_GetHashKey,
       Tcl_FirstHashEntry, Tcl_NextHashEntry, Tcl_HashStats  -  procedures  to
       manage hash tables


SYNOPSIS

       #include <tcl.h>

       Tcl_InitHashTable(tablePtr, keyType)

       Tcl_InitCustomHashTable(tablePtr, keyType, typePtr)

       Tcl_InitObjHashTable(tablePtr)

       Tcl_DeleteHashTable(tablePtr)

       Tcl_HashEntry *
       Tcl_CreateHashEntry(tablePtr, key, newPtr)

       Tcl_DeleteHashEntry(entryPtr)

       Tcl_HashEntry *
       Tcl_FindHashEntry(tablePtr, key)

       ClientData
       Tcl_GetHashValue(entryPtr)

       Tcl_SetHashValue(entryPtr, value)

       char *
       Tcl_GetHashKey(tablePtr, entryPtr)

       Tcl_HashEntry *
       Tcl_FirstHashEntry(tablePtr, searchPtr)

       Tcl_HashEntry *
       Tcl_NextHashEntry(searchPtr)

       CONST char *
       Tcl_HashStats(tablePtr)


ARGUMENTS

       Tcl_HashTable    *tablePtr    (in)      Address of hash table structure
                                               (for   all    procedures    but
                                               Tcl_InitHashTable,   this  must
                                               have been initialized by previ-
                                               ous call to Tcl_InitHashTable).

       int              keyType      (in)      Kind of keys  to  use  for  new
                                               hash  table.   Must  be  either
                                               TCL_STRING_KEYS,
                                               TCL_ONE_WORD_KEYS,     TCL_CUS-
                                               TOM_TYPE_KEYS,         TCL_CUS-
                                               TOM_PTR_KEYS,   or  an  integer
                                               value greater than 1.

       Tcl_HashKeyType  *typePtr     (in)      Address  of   structure   which
                                               defines  the  behaviour  of the
                                               hash table.

       CONST char       *key         (in)      Key to use for probe  into  ta-
                                               ble.   Exact  form  depends  on
                                               keyType used to create table.

       int              *newPtr      (out)     The word at *newPtr is set to 1
                                               if  a new entry was created and
                                               0 if there was already an entry
                                               for key.

       Tcl_HashEntry    *entryPtr    (in)      Pointer to hash table entry.

       ClientData       value        (in)      New value to assign to hash ta-
                                               ble entry.  Need not have  type
                                               ClientData,  but  must  fit  in
                                               same space as ClientData.

       Tcl_HashSearch   *searchPtr   (in)      Pointer to  record  to  use  to
                                               keep  track of progress in enu-
                                               merating all the entries  in  a
                                               hash table.
_________________________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION

       A hash table consists of zero or more entries, each consisting of a key
       and a value.  Given the key for an entry, the hashing routines can very
       quickly locate the entry, and hence its value. There may be at most one
       entry in a hash table with a particular key, but many entries may  have
       the  same  value.   Keys  can take one of four forms: strings, one-word
       values, integer arrays, or custom keys  defined  by  a  Tcl_HashKeyType
       structure (See section THE TCL_HASHKEYTYPE STRUCTURE below). All of the
       keys in a given table have the same form, which is specified  when  the
       table is initialized.

       The  value  of a hash table entry can be anything that fits in the same
       space as a ``char *'' pointer.  Values for hash table entries are  man-
       aged  entirely  by  clients,  not by the hash module itself.  Typically
       each entry's value is a pointer to a data structure managed  by  client
       code.

       Hash tables grow gracefully as the number of entries increases, so that
       there are always less than three entries per hash bucket,  on  average.
       This  allows  for fast lookups regardless of the number of entries in a
       table.

       The core provides  three  functions  for  the  initialization  of  hash
       tables,   Tcl_InitHashTable,   Tcl_InitObjHashTable   and  Tcl_InitCus-
       tomHashTable.

       Tcl_InitHashTable initializes a structure that describes a new hash ta-
       ble.  The space for the structure is provided by the caller, not by the
       hash module.  The value of keyType indicates what kinds of keys will be
       used for all entries in the table. All of the key types described later
       are allowed, with the exception of  TCL_CUSTOM_TYPE_KEYS  and  TCL_CUS-
       TOM_PTR_KEYS.

       Tcl_InitObjHashTable  is  a  wrapper around Tcl_InitCustomHashTable and
       initializes a hash table whose keys are Tcl_Obj *.

       Tcl_InitCustomHashTable initializes a structure that  describes  a  new
       hash  table. The space for the structure is provided by the caller, not
       by the hash module.  The value of keyType indicates what kinds of  keys
       will  be  used  for all entries in the table.  KeyType must have one of
       the following values:

       TCL_STRING_KEYS          Keys are null-terminated  strings.   They  are
                                passed  to  hashing routines using the address
                                of the first character of the string.

       TCL_ONE_WORD_KEYS        Keys are single-word values;  they are  passed
                                to  hashing  routines and stored in hash table
                                entries as ``char  *''  values.   The  pointer
                                value  is  the  key;  it need not (and usually
                                doesn't) actually point to a string.

       TCL_CUSTOM_TYPE_KEYS     Keys are of arbitrary type, and are stored  in
                                the  entry.  Hashing  and comparison is deter-
                                mined by typePtr. The  Tcl_HashKeyType  struc-
                                ture   is   described   in   the  section  THE
                                TCL_HASHKEYTYPE STRUCTURE below.

       TCL_CUSTOM_PTR_KEYS      Keys are pointers to an  arbitrary  type,  and
                                are  stored in the entry. Hashing and compari-
                                son is determined by typePtr. The Tcl_HashKey-
                                Type structure is described in the section THE
                                TCL_HASHKEYTYPE STRUCTURE below.

       other                    If keyType is not one of the  above,  then  it
                                must  be  an integer value greater than 1.  In
                                this case the keys will be arrays  of  ``int''
                                values, where keyType gives the number of ints
                                in each key.  This  allows  structures  to  be
                                used  as  keys.   All  keys must have the same
                                size.  Array  keys  are  passed  into  hashing
                                functions  using  the address of the first int
                                in the array.

       Tcl_DeleteHashTable deletes all of the entries  in  a  hash  table  and
       frees  up  the  memory  associated  with  the  table's bucket array and
       entries.  It does not free the actual table structure  (pointed  to  by
       tablePtr),  since  that  memory is assumed to be managed by the client.
       Tcl_DeleteHashTable also does not free or otherwise manipulate the val-
       ues  of  the  hash table entries.  If the entry values point to dynami-
       cally-allocated memory, then it is the client's responsibility to  free
       these structures before deleting the table.

       Tcl_CreateHashEntry  locates  the  entry  corresponding to a particular
       key, creating a new entry in the table if there wasn't already one with
       the  given  key.   If  an entry already existed with the given key then
       *newPtr is set to zero.  If a new entry was created,  then  *newPtr  is
       set  to  a non-zero value and the value of the new entry will be set to
       zero.  The return value from Tcl_CreateHashEntry is a  pointer  to  the
       entry, which may be used to retrieve and modify the entry's value or to
       delete the entry from the table.

       Tcl_DeleteHashEntry will remove an existing entry from  a  table.   The
       memory  associated  with the entry itself will be freed, but the client
       is responsible for any cleanup associated with the entry's value,  such
       as freeing a structure that it points to.

       Tcl_FindHashEntry  is  similar  to  Tcl_CreateHashEntry  except that it
       doesn't create a new entry  if  the  key  doesn't  exist;  instead,  it
       returns NULL as result.

       Tcl_GetHashValue  and  Tcl_SetHashValue  are  used to read and write an
       entry's value, respectively.  Values are stored and retrieved  as  type
       ``ClientData'',  which  is  large  enough  to hold a pointer value.  On
       almost all machines this is large enough to hold an integer value  too.

       Tcl_GetHashKey  returns the key for a given hash table entry, either as
       a pointer to a string, a one-word (``char *'') key, or as a pointer  to
       the  first  word of an array of integers, depending on the keyType used
       to create a hash table.  In all cases Tcl_GetHashKey returns  a  result
       with type ``char *''.  When the key is a string or array, the result of
       Tcl_GetHashKey points to information in the table entry;  this informa-
       tion  will  remain  valid  until  the  entry is deleted or its table is
       deleted.

       Tcl_FirstHashEntry and Tcl_NextHashEntry may be used to scan all of the
       entries  in a hash table.  A structure of type ``Tcl_HashSearch'', pro-
       vided by the client, is used to keep track of progress through the  ta-
       ble.   Tcl_FirstHashEntry initializes the search record and returns the
       first entry in the table (or NULL if the table is empty).  Each  subse-
       quent  call to Tcl_NextHashEntry returns the next entry in the table or
       NULL  if  the  end  of  the  table  has  been  reached.   A   call   to
       Tcl_FirstHashEntry  followed  by calls to Tcl_NextHashEntry will return
       each of the entries in the table exactly once, in an  arbitrary  order.
       It is unadvisable to modify the structure of the table, e.g.  by creat-
       ing or deleting entries, while the search is in progress.

       Tcl_HashStats  returns  a  dynamically-allocated  string  with  overall
       information  about  a hash table, such as the number of entries it con-
       tains, the number of buckets in its hash array, and the utilization  of
       the  buckets.   It  is  the  caller's responsibility to free the result
       string by passing it to ckfree.

       The header file tcl.h defines the actual data structures used to imple-
       ment  hash  tables.   This  is  necessary  so that clients can allocate
       Tcl_HashTable structures and so that macros can be  used  to  read  and
       write  the  values  of entries.  However, users of the hashing routines
       should never refer directly to any of the fields of any  of  the  hash-
       related data structures; use the procedures and macros defined here.


THE TCL_HASHKEYTYPE STRUCTURE

       Extension writers can define new hash key types by defining four proce-
       dures, initializing a Tcl_HashKeyType structure to describe  the  type,
       and  calling Tcl_InitCustomHashTable.  The Tcl_HashKeyType structure is
       defined as follows:
              typedef struct Tcl_HashKeyType {
                  int version;
                  int flags;
                  Tcl_HashKeyProc *hashKeyProc;
                  Tcl_CompareHashKeysProc *compareKeysProc;
                  Tcl_AllocHashEntryProc *allocEntryProc;
                  Tcl_FreeHashEntryProc *freeEntryProc;
              } Tcl_HashKeyType;

       The version member is the version of the table. If  this  structure  is
       extended  in future then the version can be used to distinguish between
       different structures. It should be set to TCL_HASH_KEY_TYPE_VERSION.

       The flags member is one or more of the following values OR'ed together:

       TCL_HASH_KEY_RANDOMIZE_HASH
                                There  are  some  things, pointers for example
                                which don't hash well because they do not  use
                                the  lower  bits. If this flag is set then the
                                hash table will attempt  to  rectify  this  by
                                randomising  the bits and then using the upper
                                N bits as the index into the table.

       The hashKeyProc member contains the address of  a  function  called  to
       calculate a hash value for the key.
              typedef unsigned int (Tcl_HashKeyProc) (
                  Tcl_HashTable *tablePtr,
                  VOID *keyPtr);
       If  this is NULL then keyPtr is used and TCL_HASH_KEY_RANDOMIZE_HASH is
       assumed.

       The compareKeysProc member contains the address of a function called to
       compare two keys.
              typedef int (Tcl_CompareHashKeysProc) (VOID *keyPtr,
                  Tcl_HashEntry *hPtr);
       If  this  is  NULL  then the keyPtr pointers are compared.  If the keys
       don't match then the function returns 0, otherwise it returns 1.

       The allocEntryProc member contains the address of a function called  to
       allocate space for an entry and initialise the key.
              typedef Tcl_HashEntry *(Tcl_AllocHashEntryProc) (
                  Tcl_HashTable *tablePtr, VOID *keyPtr);
       If  this  is NULL then Tcl_Alloc is used to allocate enough space for a
       Tcl_HashEntry and the key  pointer  is  assigned  to  key.oneWordValue.
       String  keys  and array keys use this function to allocate enough space
       for the entry and the key in one block, rather than  doing  it  in  two
       blocks.  This  saves  space for a pointer to the key from the entry and
       another memory allocation. Tcl_Obj * keys use this function to allocate
       enough  space  for  an  entry  and increment the reference count on the
       object.  If

       The freeEntryProc member contains the address of a function  called  to
       free space for an entry.
              typedef void (Tcl_FreeHashEntryProc) (Tcl_HashEntry *hPtr);
       If  this is NULL then Tcl_Free is used to free the space for the entry.
       Tcl_Obj * keys use this function to decrement the  reference  count  on
       the object.


KEYWORDS

       hash table, key, lookup, search, value

Tcl                                                                Tcl_Hash(3)

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