How to represent a Python-like dictionary in C

Question

In Python it's easy:

x = {}
x['USD'] = "Dollars"
x['CLP'] = "Pesos"

or

y = {'lat': 23.678900, 'lng': 121.451928, 'name': "Sin City"}

I think most of these kinds of problems have been solved, so where can I get information about dictionaries in C? I do not want to reinvent the wheel.

How do I implement a dictionary in C?

You may wish to read up about Hash Tables: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_table it's a pretty important data structure, and understanding how they work, as well as the benefits (and cons) of using one is really important and will give you a better understanding to the hows and whys of python dictionary. — Alan
– Alan, Commented Jul 17, 2010 at 1:50

William Pursell · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-17 01:52:44Z

2

glibc provides hcreate, hsearch, and hdestroy.

answered Jul 17, 2010 at 1:52

William Pursell

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Martin Beckett · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-30 21:44:41Z

2

They are called hash tables or hash maps.

There are lots of std ones for C++.

See Simple hash functions

edited Oct 30, 2017 at 21:44

answered Jul 17, 2010 at 1:46

Martin Beckett

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KikoV · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-17 01:52:02Z

1

All your questions are answered here.

The idea: use a hash function avoiding collisions to use them as an index.

answered Jul 17, 2010 at 1:52

KikoV

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Doug Currie · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-17 01:54:20Z

0

Hash tables are fine. If you want to stick to standard C library functions, there's also bsearch which is good for constant lookup dictionaries, or dynamic dictionaries in conjunction with qsort.

answered Jul 17, 2010 at 1:54

Doug Currie

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