Using boost_unordered_hash_map with char* key - c++

I have a mix of C and C++ files that collectively form my program. I am using boost unordered hash map which I initially defined as:
typedef boost::unordered_map<char *, int> my_map;
However, the map was acting weird; find(key) could not find keys that actually existed in the hash map. I, then, changed the definition to:
typedef boost::unordered_map<std::string, int> my_map;
and now the hash map works fine. Nevertheless, it is inconvenient for me to convert my char * to std::string in order to use the map. Is there a way to make the first definition work?

std::unordered_map
Oh aha. Noticed you wanted unordered_map. One of my favourites is to use boost::string_ref to represent strings without copying, so you could do
std::unordered_map<boost::string_ref, int> map;
with a quick & dirty hash implementation like:
namespace std
{
template<>
struct hash<boost::string_ref> {
size_t operator()(boost::string_ref const& sr) const {
return boost::hash_range(sr.begin(), sr.end());
}
};
}
See it Live On Coliru
std::map
You can use a custom comparator:
std::map<char const*, int, std::less<std::string> > map;
Note that this is highly inefficient, but it shows the way.
More efficient would be to wrap/use strcmp:
#include <cstring>
struct less_sz
{
bool operator()(const char* a, const char* b) const
{
if (!(a && b))
return a < b;
else
return strcmp(a, b) < 0;
}
};
And then
std::map<char const*, int, less_sz> map;
See it Live On Coliru

Related

Getting error while sorting a map by value [duplicate]

I was trying to make a map sort by value using a custom comparator but I couldn't figure out why I kept getting the error of "no matching call to compareByVal"
Here's what I had in my main.cpp:
#include <map>
#include <iostream>
struct compareByVal {
bool operator[](const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b)
return a.second < b.second;
}
int main() {
std::map<int,int,compareByVal> hash;
hash[1] = 5;
hash[2] = 2;
hash[3] = 10;
std::cout << hash.begin()->first << std::endl;
}
The first, simple problem is
struct compareByVal {
bool operator[](const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b)
return a.second < b.second;
}
should be
struct compareByVal {
bool operator()(const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b) const {
return a.second < b.second;
}
};
The second, serious problem is the signature of the compare is wrong. It should be
struct compareByVal {
bool operator()(const int leftKey, const int rightKey) const;
}
You can't access the value in the compare function. There is no (simple) way to sort a map by value.
Simply put, you cannot. Not sure which compiler you're using, but clang and gcc both give useful messages. with context.
clang:
static_assert(__is_invocable<_Compare&, const _Key&, const _Key&>{},
gcc:
if (__i == end() || key_comp()(__k, (*__i).first))
You can see that clang and gcc are both calling the compare method with only they key, and not a value. This is simply how maps work.
If you want to sort by value, you would have to create your own custom map, or, more realistically, use the value as the key instead. Creating your own map to achieve this would be more difficult than you'd think, since it would have to sort after any value is modified.
If you want to sort a std::map by its value, then you are using the wrong container. std::map is sorted by the keys by definition.
You can wrap key and value:
struct foo {
int key;
int value;
};
and then use a std::set<foo> that uses a comparator that only compares foo::value.
Well, first, the reason you're getting the error: "no matching call to compareByVal" is because map's comparator works only with the keys. So the comparator should like:
struct compareByVal {
template <typename T>
bool operator()(const T& a, const T& b) const
return a < b;
}
Coming on to what you want to achieve, I see two ways of doing so:
Copy all the elements of the map to a std::vector and sort that:
std::vector<std::pair<int,int> > v(hash.begin(), hash.end());
std::sort(v.begin(), v.end(), [](const auto& a, const auto& b) { return a.second < b.second; });
Copy all the elements of the map to another map with keys as values and values as keys. If values of your map are not unique, you can use a std::multimap instead.
This may be an X-Y issue.
If you need to sort by both key and value, then a single std::map may not be the most efficient choice.
In database theory, all the data would be placed into a single table. An index table would be created describing the access or sorting method. Data that needs to be sorted in more than one method would have multiple index tables.
In C++, the core table would be a std::vector. The indices would be std::map<key1, vector_index>, std::map<key2, vector_index>, where vector_index is the index of the item in the core table.
Example:
struct Record
{
int age;
std::string name;
};
// Core table
std::vector<Record> database;
// Index by age
std::map<int, unsigned int> age_index_table;
// Index by name
std::map<std::string, unsigned int> name_index_table;
// Fetching by age:
unsigned int database_index = age_index_table[42];
Record r = database[database_index];
// Fetching by name:
unsigned int database_index = name_index_table["Harry Potter"];
Record r = database[database_index];
You can learn more by searching the internet for "database index tables c++".
If it looks like a database and smells like a database ...

How to make a map sort by value C++

I was trying to make a map sort by value using a custom comparator but I couldn't figure out why I kept getting the error of "no matching call to compareByVal"
Here's what I had in my main.cpp:
#include <map>
#include <iostream>
struct compareByVal {
bool operator[](const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b)
return a.second < b.second;
}
int main() {
std::map<int,int,compareByVal> hash;
hash[1] = 5;
hash[2] = 2;
hash[3] = 10;
std::cout << hash.begin()->first << std::endl;
}
The first, simple problem is
struct compareByVal {
bool operator[](const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b)
return a.second < b.second;
}
should be
struct compareByVal {
bool operator()(const std::pair<int,int> & a, const std::pair<int,int> & b) const {
return a.second < b.second;
}
};
The second, serious problem is the signature of the compare is wrong. It should be
struct compareByVal {
bool operator()(const int leftKey, const int rightKey) const;
}
You can't access the value in the compare function. There is no (simple) way to sort a map by value.
Simply put, you cannot. Not sure which compiler you're using, but clang and gcc both give useful messages. with context.
clang:
static_assert(__is_invocable<_Compare&, const _Key&, const _Key&>{},
gcc:
if (__i == end() || key_comp()(__k, (*__i).first))
You can see that clang and gcc are both calling the compare method with only they key, and not a value. This is simply how maps work.
If you want to sort by value, you would have to create your own custom map, or, more realistically, use the value as the key instead. Creating your own map to achieve this would be more difficult than you'd think, since it would have to sort after any value is modified.
If you want to sort a std::map by its value, then you are using the wrong container. std::map is sorted by the keys by definition.
You can wrap key and value:
struct foo {
int key;
int value;
};
and then use a std::set<foo> that uses a comparator that only compares foo::value.
Well, first, the reason you're getting the error: "no matching call to compareByVal" is because map's comparator works only with the keys. So the comparator should like:
struct compareByVal {
template <typename T>
bool operator()(const T& a, const T& b) const
return a < b;
}
Coming on to what you want to achieve, I see two ways of doing so:
Copy all the elements of the map to a std::vector and sort that:
std::vector<std::pair<int,int> > v(hash.begin(), hash.end());
std::sort(v.begin(), v.end(), [](const auto& a, const auto& b) { return a.second < b.second; });
Copy all the elements of the map to another map with keys as values and values as keys. If values of your map are not unique, you can use a std::multimap instead.
This may be an X-Y issue.
If you need to sort by both key and value, then a single std::map may not be the most efficient choice.
In database theory, all the data would be placed into a single table. An index table would be created describing the access or sorting method. Data that needs to be sorted in more than one method would have multiple index tables.
In C++, the core table would be a std::vector. The indices would be std::map<key1, vector_index>, std::map<key2, vector_index>, where vector_index is the index of the item in the core table.
Example:
struct Record
{
int age;
std::string name;
};
// Core table
std::vector<Record> database;
// Index by age
std::map<int, unsigned int> age_index_table;
// Index by name
std::map<std::string, unsigned int> name_index_table;
// Fetching by age:
unsigned int database_index = age_index_table[42];
Record r = database[database_index];
// Fetching by name:
unsigned int database_index = name_index_table["Harry Potter"];
Record r = database[database_index];
You can learn more by searching the internet for "database index tables c++".
If it looks like a database and smells like a database ...

two way associative container

I am looking for a data type (or at least a correct name for it) or a map like data structure that allows fast look ups in both directions.
something like:
class DoubleMap{
int getA(int b){
return b2a[b];
}
int getB(int a){
return a2b[a];
}
void insert(int a, int b){
a2b[a] = b;
b2a[b] = a;
}
std::map<int, int> a2b;
std::map<int, int> b2a;
};
of course templated and more sophisticated.
Is there a name for it and some std container or something from Qt or boost?
I suggest using a boost::bimap this is designed for lookups by the key or value.
So in your case you can just do:
#include <boost/bimap.hpp>
typedef boost::bimap< int, int > bm_type;
bm_type doubleMap;
then to perform lookup by key:
doubleMap.left.find(key)
lookup by value:
doubleMap.right.find(val)

C++ Hash function for string in unordered_map

It seems as if C++ does not have a hash function for strings in the standard library. Is this true?
What is a working example of using a string as a key in an unordered_map that will work with any c++ compiler?
C++ STL provides template specializations of std::hash for the various string classes. You could just specify std::string as key type for std::unordered_map:
#include <string>
#include <unordered_map>
int main()
{
std::unordered_map<std::string, int> map;
map["string"] = 10;
return 0;
}
I ran into this today (actually with wstring, not string, but it's the same deal): using wstring as a key in an unordered_map generates an error about no hash function being available for that type.
The solution for me was to add:
#include <string>
Believe it or not, without the #include directive I still had the wstring type available but apparently NOT the ancillary functions like the hash. Simply adding the include above fixed it.
Actually, there is std::hash<std::string>
But there it is how you can use another hash function:
struct StringHasher {
size_t operator()(const std::string& t) const {
//calculate hash here.
}
}
unordered_map<std::string, ValueType, StringHasher>
If you have a CustomType and you want to plug into the STL infrastructure this is what you could do.
namespace std
{
//namespace tr1
//{
// Specializations for unordered containers
template <>
struct hash<CustomType> : public unary_function<CustomType, size_t>
{
size_t operator()(const CustomType& value) const
{
return 0;
}
};
//} // namespace tr1
template <>
struct equal_to<CustomType> : public unary_function<CustomType, bool>
{
bool operator()(const CustomType& x, const CustomType& y) const
{
return false;
}
};
} // namespace std
If you then want to create say a std::unordered_map<CustomType> the STL will find the hash and equal_to functions without you having to do anything more with the template. This is how I like to write my custom equality comparer that support unordered data structures.
In my case it was really distraction.
I had a type X for which I implemented hashing for const& X an utilized it somewhere with
std::unordered_map<const X, int> m_map;
Then I wanted to have another map which key are of the type X and did:
std::unordered_map<X, int> map_x;
Notice the LACK of const on the second case.

C++ STL--make_heap with pair<int,string> as data type

I know how does heap work and how it arranges min and max elements. It is easy, if vector contains only int, to apply make_heap in STL. But how to apply make_heap() if vector contains structure of string and int. Iwant to make heap based on int value in structure.
Please tell me how to do that.
You have to provide comparison function for your structure:
struct A
{
int x, y;
};
struct Comp
{
bool operator()(const A& s1, const A& s2)
{
return s1.x < s2.x && s1.y == s2.y;
}
};
std::vector<A> vec;
std::make_heap(vec.begin(), vec.end(), Comp());
Yes, you can use std::make_heap with std::pair<int, std::string> directly because std::pair has the required less-than comparison operator<. There is even an example in the reference linked above using that particular instantiation of std::pair.