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<header>
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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="take" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Return value and new dictionary without element with this value.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>This function returns value from dictionary and new dictionary without this value.
Returns <c>error</c> if the key is not present in the 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>
</erlref>
