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  ANSI Common Lisp   18 Hash Tables   18.2 Dictionary of Hash Tables

18.2.9 gethash Accessor

Syntax:
gethash key hash-table &optional default    value, present-p

(setf (gethash key hash-table &optional default) new-value)

Arguments and Values:
key - an object.

hash-table - a hash table.

default - an object. The default is nil.

value - an object.

present-p - a generalized boolean.

Description:
Value is the object in hash-table whose key is the same as key under the hash-table's equivalence test. If there is no such entry, value is the default.

Present-p is true if an entry is found; otherwise, it is false.

setf may be used with gethash to modify the value associated with a given key, or to add a new entry. When a gethash form is used as a setf place, any default which is supplied is evaluated according to normal left-to-right evaluation rules, but its value is ignored.

Examples:
 (setq table (make-hash-table))  #<HASH-TABLE EQL 0/120 32206334>
 (gethash 1 table)   NIL, false
 (gethash 1 table 2)  2, false
 (setf (gethash 1 table) "one")  "one"
 (setf (gethash 2 table "two") "two")  "two"
 (gethash 1 table)  "one", true
 (gethash 2 table)  "two", true
 (gethash nil table)   NIL, false
 (setf (gethash nil table) nil)   NIL 
 (gethash nil table)   NIL, true
 (defvar *counters* (make-hash-table))  *COUNTERS*
 (gethash 'foo *counters*)   NIL, false
 (gethash 'foo *counters* 0)  0, false
 (defmacro how-many (obj) `(values (gethash ,obj *counters* 0)))   HOW-MANY
 (defun count-it (obj) (incf (how-many obj)))   COUNT-IT
 (dolist (x '(bar foo foo bar bar baz)) (count-it x))
 (how-many 'foo)  2
 (how-many 'bar)  3
 (how-many 'quux)  0

See Also:
remhash

Notes:
The secondary value, present-p, can be used to distinguish the absence of an entry from the presence of an entry that has a value of default.

Allegro CL Implementation Details:
None.

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