1HSEARCH(3) Linux Programmer's Manual HSEARCH(3)
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6 hcreate, hdestroy, hsearch - hash table management
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9 #include <search.h>
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11 int hcreate(size_t nel);
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13 ENTRY *hsearch(ENTRY item, ACTION action);
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15 void hdestroy(void);
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18 #define _GNU_SOURCE
19 #include <search.h>
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21 int hcreate_r(size_t nel, struct hsearch_data *tab);
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23 int hsearch_r(ENTRY item, ACTION action, ENTRY **ret, struct
24 hsearch_data *tab);
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26 void hdestroy_r(struct hsearch_data *tab);
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29 The three functions hcreate(), hsearch(), and hdestroy() allow the user
30 to create a hash table (only one at a time) which associates a key with
31 any data.
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33 First the table must be created with the function hcreate(). The argu‐
34 ment nel is an estimate of the maximum number of entries in the table.
35 The function hcreate() may adjust this value upward to improve the per‐
36 formance of the resulting hash table.
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38 The corresponding function hdestroy() frees the memory occupied by the
39 hash table so that a new table can be constructed.
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41 The argument item is of type ENTRY, which is a typedef defined in
42 <search.h> and includes these elements:
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44 typedef struct entry {
45 char *key;
46 void *data;
47 } ENTRY;
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49 The field key points to the null-terminated string which is the search
50 key. The field data points to the data associated with that key. The
51 function hsearch() searches the hash table for an item with the same
52 key as item (where "the same" is determined using strcmp(3)), and if
53 successful returns a pointer to it. The argument action determines
54 what hsearch() does after an unsuccessful search. A value of ENTER
55 instructs it to insert a copy of item, while a value of FIND means to
56 return NULL.
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58 The three functions hcreate_r(), hsearch_r(), hdestroy_r() are reen‐
59 trant versions that allow the use of more than one table. The last
60 argument used identifies the table. The struct it points to must be
61 zeroed before the first call to hcreate_r().
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64 hcreate() and hcreate_r() return 0 when allocation of the memory for
65 the hash table fails, non-zero otherwise.
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67 hsearch() returns NULL if action is ENTER and the hash table is full,
68 or action is FIND and item cannot be found in the hash table.
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70 hsearch_r() returns 0 if action is ENTER and the hash table is full,
71 and non-zero otherwise.
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74 POSIX documents
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76 ENOMEM Out of memory.
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78 The glibc implementation will return the following two errors.
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80 ENOMEM Table full with action set to ENTER.
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82 ESRCH The action parameter is FIND and no corresponding element is
83 found in the table.
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86 The functions hcreate(), hsearch(), and hdestroy() are from SVr4, and
87 are described in POSIX.1-2001. The functions hcreate_r(), hsearch_r(),
88 hdestroy_r() are GNU extensions.
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91 SVr4 and POSIX.1-2001 specify that action is significant only for
92 unsuccessful searches, so that an ENTER should not do anything for a
93 successful search. The libc and glibc implementations update the data
94 for the given key in this case.
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96 Individual hash table entries can be added, but not deleted.
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99 The following program inserts 24 items in to a hash table, then prints
100 some of them.
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102 #include <stdio.h>
103 #include <stdlib.h>
104 #include <search.h>
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106 char *data[] = { "alpha", "bravo", "charlie", "delta",
107 "echo", "foxtrot", "golf", "hotel", "india", "juliet",
108 "kilo", "lima", "mike", "november", "oscar", "papa",
109 "quebec", "romeo", "sierra", "tango", "uniform",
110 "victor", "whisky", "x-ray", "yankee", "zulu"
111 };
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113 int main() {
114 ENTRY e, *ep;
115 int i;
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117 /* starting with small table, and letting it grow does not work */
118 hcreate(30);
119 for (i = 0; i < 24; i++) {
120 e.key = data[i];
121 /* data is just an integer, instead of a
122 pointer to something */
123 e.data = (void *)i;
124 ep = hsearch(e, ENTER);
125 /* there should be no failures */
126 if (ep == NULL) {
127 fprintf(stderr, "entry failed\n");
128 exit(1);
129 }
130 }
131 for (i = 22; i < 26; i++) {
132 /* print two entries from the table, and
133 show that two are not in the table */
134 e.key = data[i];
135 ep = hsearch(e, FIND);
136 printf("%9.9s -> %9.9s:%d\n", e.key,
137 ep ? ep->key : "NULL",
138 ep ? (int)(ep->data) : 0);
139 }
140 return 0;
141 }
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145 bsearch(3), lsearch(3), malloc(3), tsearch(3), feature_test_macros(7)
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149GNU 2004-05-20 HSEARCH(3)