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

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<!DOCTYPE erlref SYSTEM "erlref.dtd">

<erlref>
  <header>
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      <holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
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      The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
      Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
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    <title>sets</title>
    <prepared>Robert Virding</prepared>
    <responsible>Bjarne Dacker</responsible>
    <docno>1</docno>
    <approved>Bjarne D&auml;cker</approved>
    <checked></checked>
    <date>99-07-27</date>
    <rev>A</rev>
    <file>sets.sgml</file>
  </header>
  <module>sets</module>
  <modulesummary>Functions for Set Manipulation</modulesummary>
  <description>
    <p>Sets are collections of elements with no duplicate elements.
      The representation of a set is not defined.</p>
    <p>This module provides exactly the same interface as the module
      <c>ordsets</c> but with a defined representation. One difference is
      that while this module considers two elements as different if they
      do not match (<c>=:=</c>), <c>ordsets</c> considers two elements as
      different if and only if they do not compare equal (<c>==</c>).</p>
  </description>

  <datatypes>
    <datatype>
      <name name="set" n_vars="1"/>
      <desc><p>As returned by <c>new/0</c>.</p></desc>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="set" n_vars="0"/>
      <desc>
        <p><c>set()</c> is equivalent to <c>set(term())</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </datatype>
  </datatypes>
  <funcs>
    <func>
      <name name="new" arity="0"/>
      <fsummary>Return an empty set</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns a new empty set.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="is_set" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Test for a <c>Set</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Set</anno></c> is a set of
          elements, otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="size" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return the number of elements in a set</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the number of elements in <c><anno>Set</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="to_list" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Convert a <c>Set</c>into a list</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the elements of <c><anno>Set</anno></c> as a list.
          The order of the returned elements is undefined.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="from_list" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Convert a list into a <c>Set</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns a set of the elements in <c><anno>List</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="is_element" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Test for membership of a <c>Set</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Element</anno></c> is an element of
          <c><anno>Set</anno></c>, otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="add_element" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Add an element to a <c>Set</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns a new set formed from <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> with
          <c><anno>Element</anno></c> inserted.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="del_element" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Remove an element from a <c>Set</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c><anno>Set1</anno></c>, but with <c><anno>Element</anno></c> removed.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="union" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Return the union of two <c>Sets</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the merged (union) set of <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> and
          <c><anno>Set2</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="union" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return the union of a list of <c>Sets</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the merged (union) set of the list of sets.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="intersection" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Return the intersection of two <c>Sets</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the intersection of <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> and
          <c><anno>Set2</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="intersection" arity="1"/>
      <fsummary>Return the intersection of a list of <c>Sets</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns the intersection of the non-empty list of sets.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="is_disjoint" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Check whether two <c>Sets</c> are disjoint</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> and
          <c><anno>Set2</anno></c> are disjoint (have no elements in common),
	  and <c>false</c> otherwise.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="subtract" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Return the difference of two <c>Sets</c></fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns only the elements of <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> which are not
          also elements of <c><anno>Set2</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="is_subset" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Test for subset</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Returns <c>true</c> when every element of <c><anno>Set1</anno></c>1 is
          also a member of <c><anno>Set2</anno></c>, otherwise <c>false</c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="fold" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Fold over set elements</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Fold <c><anno>Function</anno></c> over every element in <c><anno>Set</anno></c>
          returning the final value of the accumulator.
          The evaluation order is undefined.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
    <func>
      <name name="filter" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Filter set elements</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Filter elements in <c><anno>Set1</anno></c> with boolean function
          <c><anno>Pred</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
  </funcs>

  <section>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <p><seealso marker="ordsets">ordsets(3)</seealso>,
      <seealso marker="gb_sets">gb_sets(3)</seealso></p>
  </section>
</erlref>