xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdlib/hcreate.3 (revision 38f0b757fd84d17d0fc24739a7cda160c4516d81)
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31.Dd July 6, 2008
32.Dt HCREATE 3
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm hcreate , hdestroy , hsearch
36.Nd manage hash search table
37.Sh LIBRARY
38.Lb libc
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40.In search.h
41.Ft int
42.Fn hcreate "size_t nel"
43.Ft void
44.Fn hdestroy void
45.Ft ENTRY *
46.Fn hsearch "ENTRY item" "ACTION action"
47.Sh DESCRIPTION
48The
49.Fn hcreate ,
50.Fn hdestroy ,
51and
52.Fn hsearch
53functions manage hash search tables.
54.Pp
55The
56.Fn hcreate
57function allocates sufficient space for the table, and the application should
58ensure it is called before
59.Fn hsearch
60is used.
61The
62.Fa nel
63argument is an estimate of the maximum
64number of entries that the table should contain.
65This number may be adjusted upward by the
66algorithm in order to obtain certain mathematically favorable circumstances.
67.Pp
68The
69.Fn hdestroy
70function disposes of the search table, and may be followed by another call to
71.Fn hcreate .
72After the call to
73.Fn hdestroy ,
74the data can no longer be considered accessible.
75The
76.Fn hdestroy
77function calls
78.Xr free 3
79for each comparison key in the search table
80but not the data item associated with the key.
81.Pp
82The
83.Fn hsearch
84function is a hash-table search routine.
85It returns a pointer into a hash table
86indicating the location at which an entry can be found.
87The
88.Fa item
89argument is a structure of type
90.Vt ENTRY
91(defined in the
92.In search.h
93header) containing two pointers:
94.Fa item.key
95points to the comparison key (a
96.Vt "char *" ) ,
97and
98.Fa item.data
99(a
100.Vt "void *" )
101points to any other data to be associated with
102that key.
103The comparison function used by
104.Fn hsearch
105is
106.Xr strcmp 3 .
107The
108.Fa action
109argument is a
110member of an enumeration type
111.Vt ACTION
112indicating the disposition of the entry if it cannot be
113found in the table.
114.Dv ENTER
115indicates that the
116.Fa item
117should be inserted in the table at an
118appropriate point.
119.Dv FIND
120indicates that no entry should be made.
121Unsuccessful resolution is
122indicated by the return of a
123.Dv NULL
124pointer.
125.Pp
126The comparison key (passed to
127.Fn hsearch
128as
129.Fa item.key )
130must be allocated using
131.Xr malloc 3
132if
133.Fa action
134is
135.Dv ENTER
136and
137.Fn hdestroy
138is called.
139.Sh RETURN VALUES
140The
141.Fn hcreate
142function returns 0 if the table creation failed and the global variable
143.Va errno
144is set to indicate the error;
145otherwise, a non-zero value is returned.
146.Pp
147The
148.Fn hdestroy
149function does not return a value.
150.Pp
151The
152.Fn hsearch
153function returns a
154.Dv NULL
155pointer if either the
156.Fa action
157is
158.Dv FIND
159and the
160.Fa item
161could not be found or the
162.Fa action
163is
164.Dv ENTER
165and the table is full.
166.Sh EXAMPLES
167The following example reads in strings followed by two numbers
168and stores them in a hash table, discarding duplicates.
169It then reads in strings and finds the matching entry in the hash
170table and prints it out.
171.Bd -literal
172#include <stdio.h>
173#include <search.h>
174#include <string.h>
175#include <stdlib.h>
176
177struct info {			/* This is the info stored in the table */
178	int age, room;		/* other than the key. */
179};
180
181#define NUM_EMPL	5000	/* # of elements in search table. */
182
183int
184main(void)
185{
186	char str[BUFSIZ]; /* Space to read string */
187	struct info info_space[NUM_EMPL]; /* Space to store employee info. */
188	struct info *info_ptr = info_space; /* Next space in info_space. */
189	ENTRY item;
190	ENTRY *found_item; /* Name to look for in table. */
191	char name_to_find[30];
192	int i = 0;
193
194	/* Create table; no error checking is performed. */
195	(void) hcreate(NUM_EMPL);
196
197	while (scanf("%s%d%d", str, &info_ptr->age,
198	    &info_ptr->room) != EOF && i++ < NUM_EMPL) {
199		/* Put information in structure, and structure in item. */
200		item.key = strdup(str);
201		item.data = info_ptr;
202		info_ptr++;
203		/* Put item into table. */
204		(void) hsearch(item, ENTER);
205	}
206
207	/* Access table. */
208	item.key = name_to_find;
209	while (scanf("%s", item.key) != EOF) {
210		if ((found_item = hsearch(item, FIND)) != NULL) {
211			/* If item is in the table. */
212			(void)printf("found %s, age = %d, room = %d\en",
213			    found_item->key,
214			    ((struct info *)found_item->data)->age,
215			    ((struct info *)found_item->data)->room);
216		} else
217			(void)printf("no such employee %s\en", name_to_find);
218	}
219	hdestroy();
220	return 0;
221}
222.Ed
223.Sh ERRORS
224The
225.Fn hcreate
226and
227.Fn hsearch
228functions may fail if:
229.Bl -tag -width Er
230.It Bq Er ENOMEM
231Insufficient storage space is available.
232.It Bq Er EINVAL
233A table already exists.
234.El
235.Sh SEE ALSO
236.Xr bsearch 3 ,
237.Xr lsearch 3 ,
238.Xr malloc 3 ,
239.Xr strcmp 3 ,
240.Xr tsearch 3
241.Sh STANDARDS
242The
243.Fn hcreate ,
244.Fn hdestroy ,
245and
246.Fn hsearch
247functions conform to
248.St -xpg4.2 .
249.Sh HISTORY
250The
251.Fn hcreate ,
252.Fn hdestroy ,
253and
254.Fn hsearch
255functions first appeared in
256.At V .
257.Sh BUGS
258The interface permits the use of only one hash table at a time.
259