[/ Copyright 2005-2006 Daniel James. / Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying / file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) ] [def __multi-index-short__ [@../../libs/multi_index/doc/index.html Boost.MultiIndex]] [section:tutorial Tutorial] When using a hash index with __multi-index-short__, you don't need to do anything to use [classref boost::hash] as it uses it by default. To find out how to use a user-defined type, read the [link hash.custom section on extending boost::hash for a custom data type]. If your standard library supplies its own implementation of the unordered associative containers and you wish to use [classref boost::hash], just use an extra template parameter: std::unordered_multiset > set_of_ints; std::unordered_set, ``[classref boost::hash]`` > set_of_pairs; std::unordered_map > map_int_to_string; To use [classref boost::hash] directly, create an instance and call it as a function: #include <``[headerref boost/functional/hash.hpp]``> int main() { ``[classref boost::hash]`` string_hash; std::size_t h = string_hash("Hash me"); } For an example of generic use, here is a function to generate a vector containing the hashes of the elements of a container: template std::vector get_hashes(Container const& x) { std::vector hashes; std::transform(x.begin(), x.end(), std::insert_iterator(hashes), ``[classref boost::hash]``()); return hashes; } [endsect] [section:custom Extending boost::hash for a custom data type] [classref boost::hash] is implemented by calling the function [funcref boost::hash_value hash_value]. The namespace isn't specified so that it can detect overloads via argument dependant lookup. So if there is a free function `hash_value` in the same namespace as a custom type, it will get called. If you have a structure `library::book`, where each `book` is uniquely defined by it's member `id`: namespace library { struct book { int id; std::string author; std::string title; // .... }; bool operator==(book const& a, book const& b) { return a.id == b.id; } } Then all you would need to do is write the function `library::hash_value`: namespace library { std::size_t hash_value(book const& b) { ``[classref boost::hash]`` hasher; return hasher(b.id); } } And you can now use [classref boost::hash] with book: library::book knife(3458, "Zane Grey", "The Hash Knife Outfit"); library::book dandelion(1354, "Paul J. Shanley", "Hash & Dandelion Greens"); ``[classref boost::hash]`` book_hasher; std::size_t knife_hash_value = book_hasher(knife); // If std::unordered_set is available: std::unordered_set > books; books.insert(knife); books.insert(library::book(2443, "Lindgren, Torgny", "Hash")); books.insert(library::book(1953, "Snyder, Bernadette M.", "Heavenly Hash: A Tasty Mix of a Mother's Meditations")); assert(books.find(knife) != books.end()); assert(books.find(dandelion) == books.end()); The full example can be found in: [@../../libs/functional/hash/examples/books.cpp /libs/functional/hash/examples/books.hpp] and [@../../libs/functional/hash/examples/books.cpp /libs/functional/hash/examples/books.cpp]. [tip When writing a hash function, first look at how the equality function works. Objects that are equal must generate the same hash value. When objects are not equal they should generate different hash values. In this object equality was based just on the id so the hash function only hash the id. If it was based on the objects name and author then the hash function should take them into account (how to do this is discussed in the next section). ] [endsect] [section:combine Combining hash values] Say you have a point class, representing a two dimensional location: class point { int x; int y; public: point() : x(0), y(0) {} point(int x, int y) : x(x), y(y) {} bool operator==(point const& other) const { return x == other.x && y == other.y; } }; and you wish to use it as the key for an `unordered_map`. You need to customise the hash for this structure. To do this we need to combine the hash values for `x` and `y`. The function [funcref boost::hash_combine] is supplied for this purpose: class point { ... friend std::size_t hash_value(point const& p) { std::size_t seed = 0; ``[funcref boost::hash_combine]``(seed, p.x); ``[funcref boost::hash_combine]``(seed, p.y); return seed; } ... }; Calls to hash_combine incrementally build the hash from the different members of point, it can be repeatedly called for any number of elements. It calls [funcref boost::hash_value hash_value] on the supplied element, and combines it with the seed. Full code for this example is at [@../../libs/functional/hash/examples/point.cpp /libs/functional/hash/examples/point.cpp]. [note When using [funcref boost::hash_combine] the order of the calls matters. ''' std::size_t seed = 0; boost::hash_combine(seed, 1); boost::hash_combine(seed, 2); results in a different seed to: std::size_t seed = 0; boost::hash_combine(seed, 2); boost::hash_combine(seed, 1); ''' If you are calculating a hash value for data where the order of the data doesn't matter in comparisons (e.g. a set) you will have to ensure that the data is always supplied in the same order. ] To calculate the hash of an iterator range you can use [funcref boost::hash_range]: std::vector some_strings; std::size_t hash = ``[funcref boost::hash_range]``(some_strings.begin(), some_strings.end()); [endsect]