From: Ehsanul Hoque <ehsanul_g3@...>
Date: 2009-09-22T03:18:26+09:00
Subject: Re: Hash or array?

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>=20
> I have a question=2C I want to store some data in two columns=2C for exam=
ple
>=20
> 0001=2C stuff1 stuff2
> 0002=2C morestuff
> 0003=2C extrastuff
> 0004=2C more evenmore
>=20
> As you can see column 1 is an ID and column 2 is one or more strings.
>=20
> I want to do a search across another data set to say if column 1 (ID
> number) matches in both sets and the contents of column 2 to data set B.
>=20
> I initially thought to use a hash=2C but it scrambles the order of the
> data so was unsure of its efficiency and use.
>=20
> Any suggestions?


Since everybody else is rooting for hashes=2C let's talk arrays. You could =
use a structure like this:

mydata =3D [nil=2C [stuff1=2C stuff2]=2C [morestuff]=2C [extrastruff]=2C [m=
ore evenmore]]

Then to search for matches=2C you can do:

searched1 =3D mydata[1] & datasetA & datasetB
searched2 =3D mydata[2] & datasetB

This is assuming that your datasets are arrays of course.

And it's fine if you want to use hashes to store the key as id too:

mydata =3D{ 1 =3D> [stuff1=2C stuff2]=2C 2 =3D>[morestuff]=2C 3 =3D> [extra=
struff]=2C 4 =3D>[more evenmore] }

searched1 =3D mydata[1] & datasetA & datasetB

searched2 =3D mydata[2] & datasetB
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