namefind.3alc - Man Page

hash table for strings

Synopsis

#include "mut.h"
char ∗namefind(inputname)
char ∗inputname;

Parameter

inputname

Pointer to a string of characters

Description

The namefind function search the mbk dictionary of names. If the string has already been inserted in the dictionary, then a pointer to this string is return, else namefind returns NULL.
The case of the letters do not matter. All names are changed to lower case before being searched in the symbol table. This is needed because most of the file format do not check case.
namefind is used by all mbk utility function using names, so its use should be needed only when directly filling or modifying the structure, or when having to compare an external string to mbk internal ones. This should speed up string comparisons.
One shall never modify the contains of a string pointed to by a result of namefind, since all the field that points to this name would have there values modified, and that there is no chance that the new hash code will be the same as the old one, so pointer comparison would be meaningless. All string used by namefind are constants string, and therefore must be left alone.

Return Value

namefind returns a string pointer if the inputname is already in the hash table, else NULL.

Example

#include "mut.h"
#include "mlo.h"
lofig_list ∗find_fig(name)
char ∗name;
{
lofig_list ∗p;
	name = namefind(name);
	if (name == NULL)
	    return NULL;
	for (p = HEAD_LOFIG; p; p = p->NEXT)
		if (p->NAME == name) /∗ pointer equality ∗/
			return p;
	return NULL;
}

Diagnostics

namefind can be used only after a call to mbkenv(3).

See Also

mbk(1) namealloc(3).

Info

October 1, 1997 ASIM/LIP6 MBK UTILITY FUNCTIONS