Previous Next Contents

Module Set: sets over ordered types

This module implements the set data structure, given a total ordering function over the set elements. All operations over sets are purely applicative (no side-effects). The implementation uses balanced binary trees, and is therefore reasonably efficient: insertion and membership take time logarithmic in the size of the set, for instance. 
module type OrderedType =
  sig
    type t
    val compare: t -> t -> int
  end
The input signature of the functor Set.Make. t is the type of the set elements. compare is a total ordering function over the set elements. This is a two-argument function f such that f e1 e2 is zero if the elements e1 and e2 are equal, f e1 e2 is strictly negative if e1 is smaller than e2, and f e1 e2 is strictly positive if e1 is greater than e2. Example: a suitable ordering function is the generic structural comparison function compare. 
module type S =
  sig
    type elt
The type of the set elements. 
    type t
The type of sets. 
    val empty: t
The empty set. 
    val is_empty: t -> bool
Test whether a set is empty or not. 
    val mem: elt -> t -> bool
mem x s tests whether x belongs to the set s. 
    val add: elt -> t -> t
add x s returns a set containing all elements of s, plus x. If x was already in s, s is returned unchanged. 
    val remove: elt -> t -> t
remove x s returns a set containing all elements of s, except x. If x was not in s, s is returned unchanged. 
    val union: t -> t -> t
    val inter: t -> t -> t
    val diff: t -> t -> t
Union, intersection and set difference. 
    val compare: t -> t -> int
Total ordering between sets. Can be used as the ordering function for doing sets of sets. 
    val equal: t -> t -> bool
equal s1 s2 tests whether the sets s1 and s2 are equal, that is, contain the same elements. 
    val subset: t -> t -> bool
subset s1 s2 tests whether the set s1 is a subset of the set s2. 
    val iter: (elt -> unit) -> t -> unit
iter f s applies f in turn to all elements of s. The order in which the elements of s are presented to f is unspecified. 
    val fold: (elt -> 'a -> 'a) -> t -> 'a -> 'a
fold f s a computes (f xN ... (f x2 (f x1 a))...), where x1 ... xN are the elements of s. The order in which elements of s are presented to f is unspecified. 
    val cardinal: t -> int
Return the number of elements of a set. 
    val elements: t -> elt list
Return the list of all elements of the given set. The elements appear in the list in some unspecified order. 
    val choose: t -> elt
Return one element of the given set, or raise Not_found if the set is empty. Which element is chosen is unspecified, but equal elements will be chosen for equal sets. 
  end
module Make(Ord: OrderedType): (S with type elt = Ord.t)
Functor building an implementation of the set structure given a totally ordered type.
Previous Next Contents