string_list: add two new functions for splitting strings

[git/git.git] / Documentation / technical / api-string-list.txt

string-list API
===============

The string_list API offers a data structure and functions to handle sorted
and unsorted string lists.

The 'string_list' struct used to be called 'path_list', but was renamed
because it is not specific to paths.

The caller:

. Allocates and clears a `struct string_list` variable.

. Initializes the members. You might want to set the flag `strdup_strings`
  if the strings should be strdup()ed. For example, this is necessary
  when you add something like git_path("..."), since that function returns
  a static buffer that will change with the next call to git_path().
+
If you need something advanced, you can manually malloc() the `items`
member (you need this if you add things later) and you should set the
`nr` and `alloc` members in that case, too.

. Adds new items to the list, using `string_list_append`,
  `string_list_append_nodup`, `string_list_insert`,
  `string_list_split`, and/or `string_list_split_in_place`.

. Can check if a string is in the list using `string_list_has_string` or
  `unsorted_string_list_has_string` and get it from the list using
  `string_list_lookup` for sorted lists.

. Can sort an unsorted list using `sort_string_list`.

. Can remove individual items of an unsorted list using
  `unsorted_string_list_delete_item`.

. Finally it should free the list using `string_list_clear`.

Example:

----
struct string_list list;
int i;

memset(&list, 0, sizeof(struct string_list));
string_list_append(&list, "foo");
string_list_append(&list, "bar");
for (i = 0; i < list.nr; i++)
	printf("%s\n", list.items[i].string)
----

NOTE: It is more efficient to build an unsorted list and sort it
afterwards, instead of building a sorted list (`O(n log n)` instead of
`O(n^2)`).
+
However, if you use the list to check if a certain string was added
already, you should not do that (using unsorted_string_list_has_string()),
because the complexity would be quadratic again (but with a worse factor).

Functions
---------

* General ones (works with sorted and unsorted lists as well)

`print_string_list`::

	Dump a string_list to stdout, useful mainly for debugging purposes. It
	can take an optional header argument and it writes out the
	string-pointer pairs of the string_list, each one in its own line.

`string_list_clear`::

	Free a string_list. The `string` pointer of the items will be freed in
	case the `strdup_strings` member of the string_list is set. The second
	parameter controls if the `util` pointer of the items should be freed
	or not.

* Functions for sorted lists only

`string_list_has_string`::

	Determine if the string_list has a given string or not.

`string_list_insert`::

	Insert a new element to the string_list. The returned pointer can be
	handy if you want to write something to the `util` pointer of the
	string_list_item containing the just added string. If the given
	string already exists the insertion will be skipped and the
	pointer to the existing item returned.
+
Since this function uses xrealloc() (which die()s if it fails) if the
list needs to grow, it is safe not to check the pointer. I.e. you may
write `string_list_insert(...)->util = ...;`.

`string_list_lookup`::

	Look up a given string in the string_list, returning the containing
	string_list_item. If the string is not found, NULL is returned.

* Functions for unsorted lists only

`string_list_append`::

	Append a new string to the end of the string_list.  If
	`strdup_string` is set, then the string argument is copied;
	otherwise the new `string_list_entry` refers to the input
	string.

`string_list_append_nodup`::

	Append a new string to the end of the string_list.  The new
	`string_list_entry` always refers to the input string, even if
	`strdup_string` is set.  This function can be used to hand
	ownership of a malloc()ed string to a `string_list` that has
	`strdup_string` set.

`sort_string_list`::

	Make an unsorted list sorted.

`unsorted_string_list_has_string`::

	It's like `string_list_has_string()` but for unsorted lists.

`unsorted_string_list_lookup`::

	It's like `string_list_lookup()` but for unsorted lists.
+
The above two functions need to look through all items, as opposed to their
counterpart for sorted lists, which performs a binary search.

`unsorted_string_list_delete_item`::

	Remove an item from a string_list. The `string` pointer of the items
	will be freed in case the `strdup_strings` member of the string_list
	is set. The third parameter controls if the `util` pointer of the
	items should be freed or not.

`string_list_split`::
`string_list_split_in_place`::

	Split a string into substrings on a delimiter character and
	append the substrings to a `string_list`.  If `maxsplit` is
	non-negative, then split at most `maxsplit` times.  Return the
	number of substrings appended to the list.
+
`string_list_split` requires a `string_list` that has `strdup_strings`
set to true; it leaves the input string untouched and makes copies of
the substrings in newly-allocated memory.
`string_list_split_in_place` requires a `string_list` that has
`strdup_strings` set to false; it splits the input string in place,
overwriting the delimiter characters with NULs and creating new
string_list_items that point into the original string (the original
string must therefore not be modified or freed while the `string_list`
is in use).


Data structures
---------------

* `struct string_list_item`

Represents an item of the list. The `string` member is a pointer to the
string, and you may use the `util` member for any purpose, if you want.

* `struct string_list`

Represents the list itself.

. The array of items are available via the `items` member.
. The `nr` member contains the number of items stored in the list.
. The `alloc` member is used to avoid reallocating at every insertion.
  You should not tamper with it.
. Setting the `strdup_strings` member to 1 will strdup() the strings
  before adding them, see above.