TIP #80: Additional Options for 'lsearch'
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TIP:	80
Title:	Additional Options for 'lsearch'
Version:	$Revision: 1.10 $
Authors:	Tom Wilkason <tom.wilkason@home.com>
	Tom Wilkason <tom.wilkason@cox.net>
State:	Final
Type:	Project
Tcl-Version:	8.4
Vote:	Done
Created:	Wed Jan 02 00:00:00 UTC 2002
Abstract
This TIP proposes additional options for the lsearch command to return and work with all matching items in the return rather than the first matching item. Additional options are also added.
Rationale
The lsearch function works well for finding the first item in a list that matches a pattern. However it is often useful to find all of the items in the list that match a pattern. This TIP proposes adding options to return the entire list of matches. With this capability, additional options are proposed to return the data rather than the indices (since you often want to work the the data anyway), and to add an option to return the logical exclusion of the matching items (i.e. those that don't match the search pattern).
Specification
I propose the following options be added to lsearch:
Option: -start index
Initiates the list search starting at index, which can be any valid list index (such as 0 , end , end-1 ...) 
Option: -all
Returns a list of all indices that match the search condition (rather than the first one). The indices are returned low to high order. For a no match condition, a  (empty list) is returned. If the the -all or -inline switches are not specified, a -1 is returned for a no match condition just as is done now.
Option: -inline
Returns a single item (or a list of items for -all) of the data that matches the search condition rather than the index (or indices). An empty result or empty list (-all) is returned for a no match condition. The data is returned in original list order. This option is useful when you want to iterate over the returned data anyway. e.g.
    foreach item [lsearch -all -inline -glob $someList *stuff] 
       # deal with item
    
Option: -not
Negates the sense of the search condition (i.e. what doesn't match). When used with the -inline or -all options, the return set will be the items that do match. If all items match then a  is returned. Without the -all option, the first item in the list that does not match will be returned.
These can be combined as needed and yield some powerful capabilities when iterating over sub-lists (esp. with the new lset command).
Reference Implementation
Changes to the Tcl_LsearchObjCmd command in generic/tclCmdIL.c are needed along with documentation and test code. The changes to the 8.4 head version of tclCmdIL.c are available below.
/*
 *----------------------------------------------------------------------
 *
 * Tcl_LsearchObjCmd --
 *
 *      This procedure is invoked to process the "lsearch" Tcl command.
 *      See the user documentation for details on what it does.
 *
 * Results:
 *      A standard Tcl result.
 *
 * Side effects:
 *      See the user documentation.
 *
 *----------------------------------------------------------------------
 */

int
Tcl_LsearchObjCmd(clientData, interp, objc, objv)
    ClientData clientData;      /* Not used. */
    Tcl_Interp *interp;         /* Current interpreter. */
    int objc;                   /* Number of arguments. */
    Tcl_Obj *CONST objv[];      /* Argument values. */

    char *bytes, *patternBytes;
    int i, match, mode, index, result, listc, length, elemLen;
    int useStart=-1, offset, allData=0, returnInline=0;
    int dataType, isIncreasing, lower, upper, patInt, objInt, notMatch=0;
    double patDouble, objDouble;
    Tcl_Obj *patObj, **listv, *listPtr, *startPtr = NULL;
    static CONST char *options[] = 
        "-all", "-ascii", "-decreasing", "-dictionary",
        "-exact", "-glob", "-increasing", "-inline",
        "-integer", "-not", "-real", "-regexp",
        "-sorted", "-start", NULL
    ;
    enum options 
        LSEARCH_ALL, LSEARCH_ASCII, LSEARCH_DECREASING, LSEARCH_DICTIONARY,
        LSEARCH_EXACT, LSEARCH_GLOB, LSEARCH_INCREASING, LSEARCH_INLINE,
        LSEARCH_INTEGER, LSEARCH_NOT, LSEARCH_REAL, LSEARCH_REGEXP,
        LSEARCH_SORTED, LSEARCH_START
    ;

    enum datatypes 
        ASCII, DICTIONARY, INTEGER, REAL
    ;

    enum modes 
        EXACT, GLOB, REGEXP, SORTED
    ;

    mode = GLOB;
    dataType = ASCII;
    isIncreasing = 1;
    /* Note: This counts options as possible list|patterns */
    if (objc < 3) 
        Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, objv, "?options? list pattern");
        return TCL_ERROR;
    
    for (i = 1; i < objc-2; i++) 
        if (Tcl_GetIndexFromObj(interp, objv[i], options, "option", 0, &index)
                != TCL_OK) 
            return TCL_ERROR;
        
        switch ((enum options) index) 
            case LSEARCH_ASCII:         /* -ascii */
                dataType = ASCII;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_NOT:           /* -not */
                notMatch = 1;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_ALL:           /* -all */
                allData = 1;
                listPtr = Tcl_NewListObj(0, (Tcl_Obj **) NULL);
                break;
            case LSEARCH_INLINE:        /* -inline */
                returnInline = 1;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_START:         /* -start index */
                useStart = ++i;         /* Use next arg as offset index */
                if (objc-i < 2) 
                    Tcl_SetResult(interp,
                            "missing argument to -start option", TCL_STATIC);
                
                break;
            case LSEARCH_DECREASING:    /* -decreasing */
                isIncreasing = 0;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_DICTIONARY:    /* -dictionary */
                dataType = DICTIONARY;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_EXACT:         /* -exact */
                mode = EXACT;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_INCREASING:    /* -increasing */
                isIncreasing = 1;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_INTEGER:       /* -integer */
                dataType = INTEGER;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_GLOB:          /* -glob */
                mode = GLOB;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_REAL:          /* -real */
                dataType = REAL;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_REGEXP:        /* -regexp */
                mode = REGEXP;
                break;
            case LSEARCH_SORTED:        /* -sorted */
                mode = SORTED;
                break;

     

    /*
     * -start option processing:
     * Ensure we get a unique copy of command line arg for start index
     */
    if (useStart > 0) 
        startPtr = Tcl_DuplicateObj(objv[useStart]);

    /*
     * Make sure the list argument is a list object and get its length and
     * a pointer to its array of element pointers.
     */
    result = Tcl_ListObjGetInline(interp, objv[objc - 2], &listc, &listv);
    if (result != TCL_OK) 
        return result;
    
    /*
     * Retrieve user specified start offset.
     */
    if (useStart > 0) 
        result = TclGetIntForIndex(interp, startPtr, /*end*/ listc-1, &offset);
        Tcl_DecrRefCount(startPtr); /* free unneeded obj */

        if (result != TCL_OK) 
           return result;
         else if (offset < 0) 
           offset = 0;
        
     else 
       offset = 0;

    /*
     * Process the pattern
     */
    patObj = objv[objc - 1];
    patternBytes = NULL;
    if ((enum modes) mode == EXACT || (enum modes) mode == SORTED) 
        switch ((enum datatypes) dataType) 
            case ASCII:
            case DICTIONARY:
                patternBytes = Tcl_GetStringFromObj(patObj, &length);
                break;
            case INTEGER:
                result = Tcl_GetIntFromObj(interp, patObj, &patInt);
                if (result != TCL_OK) 
                    return result;
                
                break;
            case REAL:
                result = Tcl_GetDoubleFromObj(interp, patObj, &patDouble);
                if (result != TCL_OK) 
                    return result;
                
                break;
        
     else 
        patternBytes = Tcl_GetStringFromObj(patObj, &length);

    /*
     * Set default index value to -1, indicating failure; if we find the
     * item in the course of our search, index will be set to the correct
     * value.
     */
    index = -1;
    match = 0;
    if ((enum modes) mode == SORTED && allData == FALSE) 
        /*
         * If the data is sorted, we can do a more intelligent search.
         * Note that there is no point in being smart when -all was
         * specified; in that case, we have to look at all items anyway.
         */
        lower = offset-1 /*-1*/;
        upper = listc;
        while (lower + 1 != upper) 
            i = (lower + upper)/2;
            switch ((enum datatypes) dataType) 
                case ASCII: 
                    bytes = Tcl_GetString(listv[i]);
                    match = strcmp(patternBytes, bytes);
                    break;
                
                case DICTIONARY: 
                    bytes = Tcl_GetString(listv[i]);
                    match = DictionaryCompare(patternBytes, bytes);
                    break;
                
                case INTEGER: 
                    result = Tcl_GetIntFromObj(interp, listv[i], &objInt);
                    if (result != TCL_OK) 
                        return result;
                    
                    if (patInt == objInt) 
                        match = 0;
                     else if (patInt < objInt) 
                        match = -1;
                     else 
                        match = 1;
                    
                    break;
                
                case REAL: 
                    result = Tcl_GetDoubleFromObj(interp, listv[i],
                            &objDouble);
                    if (result != TCL_OK) 
                        return result;
                    
                    if (patDouble == objDouble) 
                        match = 0;
                     else if (patDouble < objDouble) 
                        match = -1;
                     else 
                        match = 1;
                    
                    break;

            if (match == 0) 
                /*
                 * Normally, binary search is written to stop when it
                 * finds a match.  If there are duplicates of an element in
                 * the list, our first match might not be the first occurance.
                 * Consider:  0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 2
                 * To maintain consistancy with standard lsearch semantics,
                 * we must find the leftmost occurance of the pattern in the
                 * list.  Thus we don't just stop searching here.  This
                 * variation means that a search always makes log n
                 * comparisons (normal binary search might "get lucky" with
                 * an early comparison).
                 */
                index = i;
                upper = i;
             else if (match > 0) 
                if (isIncreasing) 
                    lower = i;
                 else 
                    upper = i;
                
             else 
                if (isIncreasing) 
                    upper = i;
                 else 
                    lower = i;

        
     else 
        for (i = offset; i < listc; i++) 
            match = 0;
            switch ((enum modes) mode) 
                case SORTED:
                case EXACT: 
                    switch ((enum datatypes) dataType) 
                        case ASCII: 
                            bytes = Tcl_GetStringFromObj(listv[i], &elemLen);
                            if (length == elemLen) 
                                match = (memcmp(bytes, patternBytes,
                                        (size_t) length) == 0);
                            
                            break;
                        
                        case DICTIONARY: 
                            bytes = Tcl_GetString(listv[i]);
                            match =
                                (DictionaryCompare(bytes, patternBytes) == 0);
                            break;
                        
                        case INTEGER: 
                            result = Tcl_GetIntFromObj(interp, listv[i],
                                    &objInt);
                            if (result != TCL_OK) 
                                return result;
                            
                            match = (objInt == patInt);
                            break;
                        
                        case REAL: 
                            result = Tcl_GetDoubleFromObj(interp, listv[i],
                                    &objDouble);
                            if (result != TCL_OK) 
                                return result;
                            
                            match = (objDouble == patDouble);
                            break;

                    break;
                
                case GLOB: 
                    match = Tcl_StringMatch(Tcl_GetString(listv[i]),
                            patternBytes);
                    break;
                
                case REGEXP: 
                    match = Tcl_RegExpMatchObj(interp, listv[i], patObj);
                    if (match < 0) 
                        return TCL_ERROR;
                    
                    break;

            /* Invert match condition for -not */
            if (notMatch) 
                match = (match != 0 ? 0 : 1);

            /* Process the possible match for this element */
            if (match != 0) 
                if (allData) 
                    if (returnInline) 
                        /* Append data */
                        Tcl_ListObjAppendElement(interp, listPtr,listv[i]);
                     else 
                        /* Append index */
                        Tcl_ListObjAppendElement(interp, listPtr,Tcl_NewIntObj(i));
                    
                 else 
                    index = i;
                    break;

        
    
    /*
     * Return either a list (-all) or a single element
     */
    if (allData) 
        Tcl_SetObjResult(interp,listPtr);
     else 
        if (returnInline) 
            if (index < 0)  /* Return a null */
                Tcl_SetObjResult(interp,Tcl_NewObj());
             else          /* Return one datum */
                Tcl_SetObjResult(interp,listv[index]);
            
         else 
            Tcl_SetIntObj(Tcl_GetObjResult(interp), index);

    return TCL_OK;

Notes
The changes to lsearch are entirely backward compatible and do no change the behaviour or performance of the command for existing options. Moreover, these changes should not impact any of the other list changes in [22], [33] or [45].
Copyright
This document has been placed in the public domain.
Appendix
The benchmarks below denote the expected speed increase of using the new options vs. tcl only implementations. Your mileage may vary.
##
# performs a lsearch -all -inline -glob search
#
proc lsearch_dataGLOB listData pattern 
    set result [list]
    foreach item $listData 
        if [string match $pattern $item] 
            lappend result $item

    return $result

##
# performs a lsearch -all -inline -regexp search
#
proc lsearch_dataRE listData pattern 
    set result [list]
    foreach item $listData 
        if [regexp $pattern $item] 
            lappend result $item

    return $result

##
# performs a lsearch -all -glob search
#
proc lsearch_allGLOB listData pattern 
    set result [list]
    set count 0
    foreach item $listData 
        if [string match $pattern $item] 
            lappend result $count
        
        incr count
    
    return $result

# Build a 2K list of data
catch unset LIST
time lappend LIST someStuff 1000
time lappend LIST otherStuff 1000

# Case with all data matching in a 2K list 2.8x speedup
puts "#C implementation [time lsearch -glob -all -inline $LIST *Stuff 100]"
#=> C implementation 3766 microseconds per iteration
puts "#tcl implementation [time lsearch_dataGLOB $LIST *Stuff 100]"
#=> tcl implementation 10815 microseconds per iteration

# Case with all data matching but returning indicies 3X speed up
puts "#C implementation [time lsearch -glob -all $LIST *Stuff 100]"
#=> C implementation 4305 microseconds per iteration
puts "#tcl implementation [time lsearch_allGLOB $LIST *Stuff 100]"
#=> tcl implementation 13277 microseconds per iteration

# Case with no matching data 8X speed up
puts "#C implementation [time lsearch -glob -all -inline $LIST none* 100]"
#=> C implementation 646 microseconds per iteration
puts "#tcl implementation [time lsearch_dataGLOB $LIST none* 100]"
#=> tcl implementation 5354 microseconds per iteration

# Repeat with RE, note more time spent in RE engine 2X speedup
puts "#C implementation [time lsearch -regexp -all -inline $LIST Stuff 100]"
#=> C implementation 35260 microseconds per iteration
puts "#tcl implementation [time lsearch_dataRE $LIST Stuff 100]"
#=> tcl implementation 62292 microseconds per iteration

# Case with no matching data 2X speedup
puts "#C implementation [time lsearch -regexp -all -inline $LIST none* 100]"
#=> C implementation 14815 microseconds per iteration
puts "#tcl implementation [time lsearch_dataRE $LIST none 100]"
#=> tcl implementation 30553 microseconds per iteration
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