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harbour-core/harbour/doc/en/array.txt
2000-06-20 02:21:06 +00:00

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/*
* $Id$
*/
/*
* The following parts are Copyright of the individual authors.
* www - http://www.harbour-project.org
*
* Copyright 1999 Chen Kedem <niki@actcom.co.il>
* Documentation for: ASORT()
*
* Copyright 1999 Luiz Rafael Culik <culik@sl.conex.net>
* Documentation for: ARRAY(), AADD(), ACLONE(), ACOPY(), ASIZE(),
* ATAIL(), AINS(), ADEL(), AFILL(), ASCAN(), AEVAL()
*
* See doc/license.txt for licensing terms.
*
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ARRAY()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Create an uninitialized array of specified length
* $SYNTAX$
* ARRAY( <nElements> [, <nElements>...] ) --> aArray
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <nElements> is the number of elements in the specified dimension.
* $RETURNS$
* <aArray> an array of specified dimensions.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function returns an uninitialized array with the length of
* <nElements>. Nested arrays are uninitialized within the same array
* pointer reference if additional parameters are specified.
* Establishing a memory variable with the same name as the array may
* destroy the original array and release the entire contents of the
* array. This depends, of course, on the data storage type of either
* the array or the variable with the same name as the array.
* $EXAMPLES$
* FUNCTION Main()
* LOCAL aArray:=Array(10)
* LOCAL x:=1
* FOR x:=1 to LEN(aArray)
* aArray[x]:=Array(x)
* NEXT
* Return Nil
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA-CLIPPER Compliant in all Cases, except that
* arrays in Harbour can have an unlimited number of dimensions, while
* Clipper has a limit of 4096 array elements.
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AADD(),ADEL(),AFILL(),AINS()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* AADD()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Dynamically add an element to an array
* $SYNTAX$
* AADD(<aArray>[, <xValue>]) --> Value
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> The name of an array
*
* <xValue> Element to add to array <aArray>
* $RETURNS$
* <Value> if specified <xValue>,<xValue> will return , otherwise this
* function returns a NIL value.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function dynamically increases the length of the array named
* <aArray> by one element and stores the value of <xValue> to that
* newly created element.
*
* <xValue> may be an array reference pointer, which in turn may be
* stored to an array's subscript position.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL aArray:={}
* AADD(aArray,10)
* FOR x:=1 to 10
* AADD(aArray,x)
* NEXT
* $STATUS$
* R
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AINS(),ASIZE()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ASIZE()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Adjust the size of an array
* $SYNTAX$
* ASIZE(<aArray>, <nLen>) --> aTarget
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Name of array to be dynamically altered
*
* <nLen> Numeric value representing the new size of <aArray>
* $RETURNS$
* <aTarget> an array pointer reference to <aTarget>.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function will dynamically increase or decrease the size of
* <aArray> by adjusting the length of the array to <nLen> subscript
* positions.
*
* If the length of the array <aArray> is shortened, those former
* subscript positions are lost. If the length of the array is
* lengthened a NIL value is assigned to the new subscript position.
* $EXAMPLES$
* aArray := { 1 } // Result: aArray is { 1 }
* ASIZE(aArray, 3) // Result: aArray is { 1, NIL, NIL }
* ASIZE(aArray, 1) // Result: aArray is { 1 }
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* If HB_COMPAT_C53 is defined, the function generates an Error,
* else it will return the array itself.
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AADD(),ADEL(),AFILL(),AINS()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ATAIL()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Returns the rightmost element of an array
* $SYNTAX$
* ATAIL( <aArray> ) --> Element
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> is the array.
* $RETURNS$
* <Element> the expression of the last element in the array.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function return the value of the last element in the array
* named <aArray>. This function does not alter the size of the
* array or any of the subscript values.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL array:= {"Harbour", "is", "Supreme", "Power"}
* ? ATAIL(aArray)
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* LEN(),ARRAY(),ASIZE(),AADD()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* AINS()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Insert a NIL value at an array subscript position.
* $SYNTAX$
* AINS( <aArray>, <nPos> ) --> aTarget
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Array name.
*
* <nPos> Subscript position in <aArray>
* $RETURNS$
* <aTarget> an array pointer reference.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function inserts a NIL value in the array named <aArray>
* at the <nPos>th position.
*
* All array elements starting with the <nPos>th position will be
* shifted down one subscript position in the array list and the
* last item in the array will be removed completely. In other words,
* if an array element were to be inserted at the fifth subscript
* position, the element previously in the fifth position would now
* be located at the sixth position. The length of the array <aArray>
* will remain unchanged.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL aArray:={"Harbour","is","Power!","!!!"}
* AINS(aArray,4)
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AADD(),ACOPY(),ADEL(),AEVAL(),AFILL(),ASIZE()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ADEL()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Delete an element form an array.
* $SYNTAX$
* ADEL(<aArray>, <nPos>) --> aTarget
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Name of array from which an element is to be removed.
*
* <nPos> Subscript of the element to be removed.
* $RETURNS$
* <aTarget> an array pointer reference.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function deletes the element found at <nPos> subscript position
* in the array <aArray>. All elements in the array <aArray> below the
* given subscript position <nPos> will move up one position in the
* array. In other words, what was formerly the sixth subscript position
* will become the fifth subscript position. The length of the array
* <aArray> will remain unchanged,as the last element in the array will
* become a NIL data type.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL aArray
* aArray := { "Harbour","is","Power" } // Result: aArray is
*
* ADEL(aArray, 2) // Result: aArray is
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* ACOPY(),AINS(),AFILL()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* AFILL()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Fill an array with a specified value
* $SYNTAX$
* AFILL( <aArray>, <xValue>, [<nStart>], [<nCount>] ) --> aTarget
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Name of array to be filled.
*
* <xValue> Expression to be globally filled in <aArray>
*
* <nStart> Subscript starting position
*
* <nCount> Number of subscript to be filled
* $RETURNS$
* <aTarget> an array pointer.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function will fill each element of an array named <aArray> with
* the value <xValue>. If specified, <nStart> denotes the beginning
* element to be filled and the array elements will continue to be
* filled for <nCount> positions. If Not specified, the value of
* <nStart> will be 1, and the value of <nCount> will be the value
* of LEN(<aArray>); thus, all subscript positions in the array
* <aArray> will be filled with the value of <xValue>.
*
* This function will work on only a single dimension of <aArray>.
* If there are array pointer references within a subscript <aArray>,
* those values will be lost, since this function will overwrite those
* values with new values.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL aTest:={Nil,0,1,2}
* Afill(aTest,5)
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AADD(),AEVAL(),DBSTRUCT(),DIRECTORY()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ASCAN()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Scan array elements for a specified condition
* $SYNTAX$
* ASCAN( <aTarget>, <xSearch>, [<nStart>], [<nCount>] ) --> nStoppedAt
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aTarget> Name of array to be scanned.
*
* <xSearch> Expression to search for in <aTarget>
*
* <nStart> Beginning subscript position at which to start the search.
*
* <nCount> Number of elements to scan with <aTarget>.
* $RETURNS$
* <nStoppedAt> A numeric value of subscript position where <xSearch>
* was found.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function scan the content of array named <aTarget> for the
* value of <xSearch>. The return value is the position in the array
* <aTarget> in which <xSearch> was found. If it was not found, the
* return value will be 0.
*
* If specified, the beginning subscript position at which to start
* scanning may be set with the value passed as <nStart>. The default
* is 1.
*
* If specified, the number of array elements to scan may be set with
* the value passed as <nCount>. The default is the number of elements
* in the array <aTarget>.
*
* If <xSearch> is a code block, the operation of the function is
* slightly different. Each array subscript pointer reference is
* passed to the code block to be evaluated. The scanning routine
* will continue until the value obtained from the code block is a
* logical true (.T.) or until the end of the array has been reached.
* $EXAMPLES$
* aDir:=Directory("*.prg")
* AScan(aDir,,,{|x,y| x[1]="Test.prg"})
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is not CA-Clipper compatible. Clipper ASCAN() is affected by the SET EXACT ON/OFF Condition
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* AEVAL()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* AEVAL()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Evaluated the subscript element of an array
* $SYNTAX$
* AEVAL(<aArray>, <bBlock>, [<nStart>], [<nCount>]) --> aArray
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Is the array to be evaluated.
*
* <bBlock> Is a code block to evaluate for each element processed.
*
* <nStart> The beginning array element to evaluate.
*
* <nCount> The number of elements to process.
* $RETURNS$
* <aArray> an array pointer reference.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function will evaluate and process the subscript elements
* in <aArray>. A code block passed as <bBlock> defines the operation
* to be executed on each element of the array. All elements in <aArray>
* will be evaluated unless specified by a beginning subscript position
* in <nStart> for <nCount> elements.
*
* Two parameters are passed to the code block <bBlock>. The individual
* elements in an array are the first parameter and the subscript position
* is the second.
*
* AEVAL() does not replace a FOR...NEXT loop for processing arrays. If
* an array is an autonomous unit, AEVAL() is appropriate. If the array
* is to be altered or if elements are to be reevaluated, a FOR...NEXT
* loop is more appropriate.
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* EVAL(),DBEVAL()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ACOPY()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Copy elements from one array to another
* $SYNTAX$
* ACOPY( <aSource>, <aTarget>, [<nStart>], [<nCount>], [<nTargetPos>] )
* --> aTarget
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aSource> is the array to copy elements from.
*
* <aTarget> is the array to copy elements to.
*
* <nStart> is the beginning subscript position to copy from <aSource>
*
* <nCount> the number of subscript elements to copy from <aSource>.
*
* <nTargetPos> the starting subscript position in <aTarget> to copy
* elements to.
* $RETURNS$
* <aTarget> an array pointer reference
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function copies array elements from <aSource> to <aTarget>.
* <nStart> is the beginning element to be copied from <aSource>;
* the default is 1.
*
* <nCount> is the number of elements to be copied from <aSource>;
* the default is the entire array.
*
* <nTargetPos> is the subscript number in the target array,<aTarget>,
* to which array elements are to be copied; the default is 1
*
* This function will copy all data types in <aSource> to <aTarget>.
*
* If an array element in <aSource> is a pointer reference to another
* array, that array pointer will be copied to <aTarget>; not all
* subdimensions will be copied from one array to the next. This must
* be accomplished via the ACLONE() function.
*
* Note
* If array <aSource> is larger then <aTarget>, array elements will
* start copying at <nTargetPos> and continue copying until the end
* of array <aTarget> is reached. The ACOPY() function doesn't append
* subscript positions to the target array, the size of the target
* array <aTarget> remains constant.
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL nCount := 2, nStart := 1, aOne, aTwo
* aOne := {"HABOUR"," is ","POWER"}
* aTwo := {"CLIPPER"," was ","POWER"}
* ACOPY(aOne, aTwo, nStart, nCount)
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* This function is CA Clipper compliant
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* ACLONE(),ADEL(),AEVAL(),AFILL(),AINS(),ASORT()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ACLONE()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Duplicate a multidimensional array
* $SYNTAX$
* ACLONE(<aSource>) --> aDuplicate
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aSource> Name of the array to be cloned.
* $RETURNS$
* <aDuplicate> A new array pointer reference complete with nested
* array values.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* This function makes a complete copy of the array expressed as
* <aSource> and return a cloned set of array values.This provides
* a complete set of arrays values for all dimensions within the
* original array <aSource>
* $EXAMPLES$
* LOCAL aOne, aTwo
* aOne := {"Harbour"," is ","POWER"}
* aTwo := ACLONE(aOne) // Result: aTwo is {1, 2, 3}
* aOne[1] := "The Harbour Compiler" // Result: aOne is {99, 2, 3}
* // aTwo is still {1, 2, 3}
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* Clipper will return NIL if the parameter is not an array.
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* ACOPY(),ADEL(),AINS(),ASIZE()
* $END$
*/
/* $DOC$
* $FUNCNAME$
* ASORT()
* $CATEGORY$
* Array
* $ONELINER$
* Sort an array
* $SYNTAX$
* ASORT( <aArray>, [<nStart>], [<nCount>], [<bSort>] ) --> aArray
* $ARGUMENTS$
* <aArray> Array to be sorted.
*
* <nStart> The first element to start the sort from, default is 1.
*
* <nCount> Number of elements starting from <nStart> to sort, default
* is all elements.
*
* <bSort> Code block for sorting order, default is ascending order
* {| x, y | x < y }. The code block should accept two parameters and
* must return .T. if the sort is in order, .F. if not.
* $RETURNS$
* <aArray> reference to the now sorted <aArray> or NIL if the
* passed <aArray> is not an array.
* $DESCRIPTION$
* ASORT() sort all or part of a given array. If <bSort> is omitted,
* the function expect <aArray> to be one dimensional array containing
* single data type (one of: Character, Date, Logical, Numeric) and sort
* this array in ascending order: Character are sorted by their ASCII
* value, Dates are sorted chronologically, Logical put .F. values before
* .T., Numeric are sorted by their value.
*
* If <bSort> is specified, it is used to handle the sorting order. With
* each time the block is evaluate, two array elements are passed to the
* code block, and <bSort> must return a logical value that state if
* those elements are in order (.T.) or not (.F.). Using this block you
* can sort multidimensional array, descending orders or even (but why
* would you want to do that) sort array that contain different data
* type.
* $EXAMPLES$
* // sort numeric values in ascending order
* ASORT( { 3, 1, 4, 42, 5, 9 } ) // result: { 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 42 }
*
* // sort character strings in descending lexical order
* aKeys := { "Ctrl", "Alt", "Delete" }
* bSort := {| x, y | UPPER( x ) > UPPER( y ) }
* ASORT( aKeys,,, bSort ) // result: { "Delete", "Ctrl", "Alt" }
*
* // sort two-dimensional array according to 2nd element of each pair
* aPair := { {"Sun",8}, {"Mon",1}, {"Tue",57}, {"Wed",-6} }
* ASORT( aPair,,, {| x, y | x[2] < y[2] } )
* // result: { {"Wed",-6}, {"Mon",1}, {"Sun",8}, {"Tue",57} }
* $STATUS$
* R
* $COMPLIANCE$
* Codeblock calling frequency and order differs from Clipper, since
* Harbour uses a different (faster) sorting algorithm (quicksort).
* $FILES$
* Library is vm
* $SEEALSO$
* ASCAN(),EVAL(),SORT
* $END$
*/