path: root/lib/stdlib/doc/src/orddict.xml

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  <header>
    <copyright>
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      Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
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    <title>orddict</title>
    <prepared>Robert Virding</prepared>
    <responsible></responsible>
    <docno></docno>
    <approved></approved>
    <checked></checked>
    <date>2007-04-16</date>
    <rev>B</rev>
    <file>orddict.xml</file>
  </header>
  <module>orddict</module>
  <modulesummary>Key-value dictionary as ordered list.</modulesummary>
  <description>
    <p>This module provides a <c>Key</c>-<c>Value</c> dictionary.
      An <c>orddict</c> is a representation of a dictionary, where a
      list of pairs is used to store the keys and values. The list is
      ordered after the keys in the <em>Erlang term order</em>.</p>

    <p>This module provides the same interface as the
      <seealso marker="dict"><c>dict(3)</c></seealso> module
      but with a defined representation. One difference is
      that while <c>dict</c> considers two keys as different if they
      do not match (<c>=:=</c>), this module considers two keys as
      different if and only if they do not compare equal (<c>==</c>).</p>
  </description>

  <datatypes>
    <datatype>
      <name name="orddict" n_vars="2"/>
      <desc><p>Dictionary as returned by
        <seealso marker="#new/0"><c>new/0</c></seealso>.</p></desc>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="orddict" n_vars="0"/>
    </datatype>
  </datatypes>

  <funcs>
    <func>
      <name name="append" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Append a value to keys in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Appends a new <c><anno>Value</anno></c> to the current list
          of values associated with <c><anno>Key</anno></c>. An exception is
          generated if the initial value associated with <c><anno>Key</anno></c>
          is not a list of values.</p>
        <p>See also section <seealso marker="#notes">Notes</seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="append_list" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Append new values to keys in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Appends a list of values <c><anno>ValList</anno></c> to
          the current list of values associated with <c><anno>Key</anno></c>.
          An exception is generated if the initial value associated with
          <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is not a list of values.</p>
        <p>See also section <seealso marker="#notes">Notes</seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="erase" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Erase a key from a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Erases all items with a specified key from a dictionary.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="fetch" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Look up values in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the value associated with <c><anno>Key</anno></c>
          in dictionary <c><anno>Orddict</anno></c>. This function assumes that
          the <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is present in the dictionary. An exception
          is generated if <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is not in the dictionary.</p>
        <p>See also section <seealso marker="#notes">Notes</seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="fetch_keys" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return all keys in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns a list of all keys in a dictionary.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="filter" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Select elements that satisfy a predicate.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p><c><anno>Orddict2</anno></c> is a dictionary of all keys and values
          in <c><anno>Orddict1</anno></c> for which
          <c><anno>Pred</anno>(<anno>Key</anno>, <anno>Value</anno>)</c> is
          <c>true</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="find" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Search for a key in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Searches for a key in a dictionary. Returns
          <c>{ok, <anno>Value</anno>}</c>, where <c><anno>Value</anno></c> is
          the value associated with <c><anno>Key</anno></c>, or <c>error</c> if
          the key is not present in the dictionary.</p>
        <p>See also section <seealso marker="#notes">Notes</seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="fold" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Fold a function over a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Calls <c><anno>Fun</anno></c> on successive keys and values of
          <c><anno>Orddict</anno></c> together with an extra argument <c>Acc</c>
          (short for accumulator). <c><anno>Fun</anno></c> must return a new
          accumulator that is passed to the next call. <c><anno>Acc0</anno></c>
          is returned if the list is empty.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="from_list" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Convert a list of pairs to a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Converts the <c><anno>Key</anno></c>-<c><anno>Value</anno></c> list
          <c><anno>List</anno></c> to a dictionary.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="is_empty" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return true if the dictionary is empty.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Orddict</anno></c> has no elements,
          otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="is_key" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Test if a key is in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Tests if <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is contained in
          dictionary <c><anno>Orddict</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="map" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Map a function over a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Calls <c><anno>Fun</anno></c> on successive keys and values of
          <c><anno>Orddict1</anno></c> tvo return a new value for each key.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="merge" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Merge two dictionaries.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Merges two dictionaries, <c><anno>Orddict1</anno></c> and
          <c><anno>Orddict2</anno></c>, to create a new dictionary. All the
          <c><anno>Key</anno></c>-<c><anno>Value</anno></c> pairs from both
          dictionaries are included in the new dictionary. If a key occurs in
          both dictionaries, <c><anno>Fun</anno></c> is called with the key and
          both values to return a new value.
	  <c>merge/3</c> can be defined as follows, but is faster:</p>
        <code type="none">
merge(Fun, D1, D2) ->
    fold(fun (K, V1, D) ->
                 update(K, fun (V2) -> Fun(K, V1, V2) end, V1, D)
         end, D2, D1).</code>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="new" arity="0"/>
      <fsummary>Create a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Creates a new dictionary.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="size" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return the number of elements in an ordered dictionary.
      </fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the number of elements in an <c><anno>Orddict</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="store" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Store a value in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Stores a <c><anno>Key</anno></c>-<c><anno>Value</anno></c> pair in a
          dictionary. If the <c><anno>Key</anno></c> already exists in
          <c><anno>Orddict1</anno></c>,
          the associated value is replaced by <c><anno>Value</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="to_list" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Convert a dictionary to a list of pairs.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Converts a dictionary to a list representation.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="update" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Update a value in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Updates a value in a dictionary by calling <c><anno>Fun</anno></c>
          on the value to get a new value. An exception is generated if
          <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is not present in the dictionary.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="update" arity="4"/>
      <fsummary>Update a value in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Updates a value in a dictionary by calling <c><anno>Fun</anno></c>
          on the value to get a new value. If <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is not
          present in the dictionary, <c><anno>Initial</anno></c> is stored as
          the first value. For example, <c>append/3</c> can be defined
          as follows:</p>
        <code type="none">
append(Key, Val, D) ->
    update(Key, fun (Old) -> Old ++ [Val] end, [Val], D).</code>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="update_counter" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Increment a value in a dictionary.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Adds <c><anno>Increment</anno></c> to the value associated with
          <c><anno>Key</anno></c>
          and store this value. If <c><anno>Key</anno></c> is not present in
          the dictionary, <c><anno>Increment</anno></c> is stored as
          the first value.</p>
        <p>This can be defined as follows, but is faster:</p>
        <code type="none">
update_counter(Key, Incr, D) ->
    update(Key, fun (Old) -> Old + Incr end, Incr, D).</code>
      </desc>
    </func>
  </funcs>

  <section>
    <title>Notes</title>
    <marker id="notes"/>
    <p>Functions <c>append/3</c> and <c>append_list/3</c> are included
      so that keyed values can be stored in a list <em>accumulator</em>, for
      example:</p>
    <pre>
> D0 = orddict:new(),
  D1 = orddict:store(files, [], D0),
  D2 = orddict:append(files, f1, D1),
  D3 = orddict:append(files, f2, D2),
  D4 = orddict:append(files, f3, D3),
  orddict:fetch(files, D4).
[f1,f2,f3]</pre>
    <p>This saves the trouble of first fetching a keyed value,
      appending a new value to the list of stored values, and storing
      the result.</p>
    <p>Function <c>fetch/2</c> is to be used if the key is known to
      be in the dictionary, otherwise function <c>find/2</c>.</p>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <p><seealso marker="dict"><c>dict(3)</c></seealso>,
      <seealso marker="gb_trees"><c>gb_trees(3)</c></seealso></p>
  </section>
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