ref: a411870ee4640241e3c494367d922847da84f972
dir: /man/2/dict/
.TH DICT 2
.SH NAME
dict - list of string pairs
.SH SYNOPSIS
.EX
include "dict.m";
dict := load Dictionary Dictionary->PATH;
Dict: adt {
add: fn(d: self ref Dict, e: (string, string));
delete: fn(d: self ref Dict, k: string);
lookup: fn(d: self ref Dict, k: string): string;
keys: fn(d: self ref Dict): list of string;
};
.EE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Dict
provides a simple string to string association list:
.TP
.IB d .add( e )
Adds a new tuple
.IR e
to the list,
representing a new
.RI ( "key ,\ value" )
pair.
.TP
.IB d .delete ( k )
Deletes all pairs with key
.I k
from the list.
.TP
.IB d .lookup( k )
Tries to find a pair with key
.I k
and returns its associated value,
or nil if the key was not found.
.TP
.IB d .keys()
Returns a list of all
keys
in the list.
.SH SOURCE
.B /appl/lib/dict.b
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR hash (2)
.SH BUGS
No attempt is made to
keep keys unique in the list; if more
than one pair exists with the same key, then
.B lookup
will select one of them arbitrarily.
.PP
Computational overhead of lookup and deletion of
keys is proportional
to the number of pairs in the list.