Core_hashtbl is a reimplementation of the standard MoreLabels.Hashtbl. Its worst case time complexity is O(log(N)) for lookups and additions, unlike the standard MoreLabels.Hashtbl, which is O(N)
A hash table is implemented as an array of AVL trees (see Avltree
). If
growth_allowed
(default true) is false then size
is the final size of the array,
the table can always hold more elements than size
, however they will all go into
tree nodes. If it is true (default) then the array will double in size when the number
of elements in the table reaches twice the size of the array. When this happens all
existing elements will be reinserted, which can take a long time. If you care about
latency set size
and growth_allowed=false
if possible.
In most cases, functions passed as arguments to hash table accessors must not mutate
the hash table while it is being accessed, as it will result an an exception. For
example, iter
and change
take a function f
which must not modify t
. In a few
cases, mutation is allowed, such as in Hashtbl.find_and_call
, where all access to
t
is finished before the ~if_found
and ~if_not_found
arguments are invoked.
We have three kinds of hash table modules:
Hashtbl Hashtbl.Poly Key.Table (a class of similar modules)
There are three kinds of hash-table functions:
creation from nothing (create, of_alist) sexp converters (t_of_sexp, sexp_of_t, and bin_io too) accessors and mappers (fold, mem, find, map, filter_map, ...)
Here is a table showing what classes of functions are available in each kind of hash-table module:
creation sexp-conv accessors Hashtbl X Hashtbl.Poly X X Key.Table X X X'
The entry marked with X' is there for historical reasons, and may be eliminated at
some point. The upshot is that one should use Hashtbl
for accessors, Hashtbl.Poly
for hash-table creation and sexp conversion using polymorphic compare/hash, and
Key.Table
for hash-table creation and sexp conversion using Key.compare
and
Key.hash
.
For many students of ocaml, using hashtables is complicated by the functors. Here are a few tips:
For a list of hashtable functions see Hashtbl_intf.S
.
To create a hashtable with string keys use String.Table.
let table = String.Table.create () ~size:4 in
List.iter ~f:(fun (key, data) -> Hashtbl.set table ~key ~data)
[ ("A", 1); ("B", 2); ("C", 3); ];
Hashtbl.find table "C"
Here 4 need only be a guess at the hashtable's future size. There are other similar pre-made hashtables, eg Int63.Table or Host_and_port.Table.
To create a hashtable with a custom key type use Hashable.
module Key = struct
module T = struct
type t = String.t * Int63.t [@@deriving sexp]
let compare = compare
let hash = Hashtbl.hash
end
include T
include Hashable.Make (T)
end
let table = Key.Table.create () ~size:4 in
List.iter ~f:(fun (key, data) -> Hashtbl.set table ~key ~data)
[ (("pi", Int63.zero), 3.14159);
(("e", Int63.minus_one), 2.71828);
(("Euler", Int63.one), 0.577215);
];
Hashtbl.find table ("pi", Int63.zero)
Performance may improve if you define equal
and hash
explicitly, eg:
let equal (x, y) (x', y') = String.(=) x x' && Int63.(=) y y'
let hash (x, y) = String.hash x + Int63.hash y * 65599
We use [@@deriving sexp_of]
but not [@@deriving sexp]
because we want people to
be explicit about the hash and comparison functions used when creating hashtables.
One can use Hashtbl.Poly.t
, which does have [@@deriving sexp]
, to use
polymorphic comparison and hashing.
create_mapped get_key get_data [x1,...,xn]
= of_alist [get_key x1, get_data x1; ...; get_key xn, get_data xn]
create_with_key ~get_key [x1,...,xn]
= of_alist [get_key x1, x1; ...; get_key xn, xn]
like filter_map
, but function takes both key and data as arguments
returns new maps with bound values partitioned by f applied to the bound values
like partition_map
, but function takes both key and data as arguments
Merge two hashtables.
The result of merge f h1 h2
has as keys the set of all k
in the
union of the sets of keys of h1
and h2
for which d(k)
is not
None, where:
d(k) =
k
in h1
is to d1, and h2
does not map k
;k
in h2
is to d2, and h1
does not map k
;k
in h1
is to d1
and k
in h2
is to d2
.Each key k
is mapped to a single piece of data x, where d(k)
= Some x.
Returns the list of all data for given hashtable.
filter_inplace t ~f
removes all the elements from t
that don't satisfy f
.
map_inplace t ~f
applies f to all elements in t
, transforming them in place
filter_map_inplace
combines the effects of map_inplace
and filter_inplace