NAME

       Tcl_InitHashTable,  Tcl_DeleteHashTable, Tcl_CreateHashEn­
       try, Tcl_DeleteHashEntry, Tcl_FindHashEntry,  Tcl_GetHash­
       Value,  Tcl_SetHashValue, Tcl_GetHashKey, Tcl_FirstHashEn­
       try, Tcl_NextHashEntry, Tcl_HashStats - procedures to man­
       age hash tables


SYNOPSIS

       #include <tcl.h>

       Tcl_InitHashTable(tablePtr, keyType)

       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)

       char *
       Tcl_HashStats(tablePtr)


ARGUMENTS

       Tcl_HashTable    *tablePtr    (in)      Address   of  hash
                                               table    structure
                                               (for   all  proce­
                                               dures          but
                                               Tcl_InitHashTable,
                                               this   must   have
                                               been   initialized
                                               by  previous  call
                                               to
                                               Tcl_InitHashTable).

       int              keyType      (in)      Kind  of  keys  to

                                               table.    Must  be
                                               either
                                               TCL_STRING_KEYS,
                                               TCL_ONE_WORD_KEYS,
                                               or    an   integer
                                               value greater than
                                               1.

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

       int              *newPtr      (out)     The  word at *new­
                                               Ptr 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
                                               table entry.  Need
                                               not    have   type
                                               ClientData,    but
                                               must  fit  in same
                                               space  as  Client­
                                               Data.

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


DESCRIPTION

       A hash table consists of zero or more entries,  each  con­
       sisting 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 three forms:
       strings, one-word values, or integer arrays.  All  of  the
       keys  in a given table have the same form, which is speci­
       fied when the table is initialized.

       in  the  same  space  as a ``char *'' pointer.  Values for
       hash table entries are managed 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.

       Tcl_InitHashTable 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 key­
       Type indicates what kinds of keys will  be  used  for  all
       entries  in  the table.  KeyType must have one of the fol­
       lowing values:

       TCL_STRING_KEYS          Keys  are  null-terminated  ASCII
                                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 rou­
                                tines 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.

       other                    If keyType is not TCL_STRING_KEYS
                                or   TCL_ONE_WORD_KEYS,  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 hash­
                                ing 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  mem­
       ory  is  assumed to be managed by the client.  Tcl_Delete­
       HashTable also does not free or otherwise  manipulate  the
       values  of  the  hash  table entries.  If the entry values
       point to dynamically-allocated  memory,  then  it  is  the
       client's  responsibility  to  free these structures before


       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 information 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'',  provided by the client, is used
       to   keep   track   of   progress   through   the   table.
       Tcl_FirstHashEntry   initializes  the  search  record  and
       returns the first entry in the table (or NULL if the table
       is  empty).   Each  subsequent  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  creating or deleting entries, while the
       search is in progress.

       overall information about a hash table, such as the number
       of entries it contains, 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 pass­
       ing it to ckfree.

       The  header  file tcl.h defines the actual data structures
       used to implement 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.


KEYWORDS

       hash table, key, lookup, search, value


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