DATA STRUCTURE - HASH TABLE

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Hash Table is a data structure which store data in associative manner. In hash table, data is stored
in array format where each data values has its own unique index value. Access of data becomes
very fast if we know the index of desired data.

Thus, it becomes a data structure in which insertion and search operations are very fast
irrespective of size of data. Hash Table uses array as a storage medium and uses hash technique
to generate index where an element is to be inserted or to be located from.

Hashing
Hashing is a technique to convert a range of key values into a range of indexes of an array. We're
going to use modulo operator to get a range of key values. Consider an example of hashtable of
size 20, and following items are to be stored. Item are in key, value format.

1, 20
2, 70
42, 80
4, 25
12, 44
14, 32
17, 11
13, 78
37, 98

S.n. Key Hash Array Index

1 1 1 % 20 = 1 1

2 2 2 % 20 = 2 2

3 42 42 % 20 = 2 2

4 4 4 % 20 = 4 4

5 12 12 % 20 = 12 12

6 14 14 % 20 = 14 14

7 17 17 % 20 = 17 17

8 13 13 % 20 = 13 13
 9 37 37 % 20 = 17 17

Linear Probing
As we can see, it may happen that the hashing technique used create already used index of the
array. In such case, we can search the next empty location in the array by looking into the next cell
until we found an empty cell. This technique is called linear probing.

S.n. Key Hash Array Index After Linear Probing, Array Index

1 1 1 % 20 = 1 1 1

2 2 2 % 20 = 2 2 2

3 42 42 % 20 = 2 2 3

4 4 4 % 20 = 4 4 4

5 12 12 % 20 = 12 12 12

6 14 14 % 20 = 14 14 14

7 17 17 % 20 = 17 17 17

8 13 13 % 20 = 13 13 13

9 37 37 % 20 = 17 17 18

Basic Operations
Following are basic primary operations of a hashtable which are following.

Search − search an element in a hashtable.

Insert − insert an element in a hashtable.

delete − delete an element from a hashtable.

DataItem
Define a data item having some data, and key based on which search is to be conducted in
hashtable.

struct DataItem {
int data;
int key;
};

Hash Method
Define a hashing method to compute the hash code of the key of the data item.

int hashCode(int key){

return key % SIZE;
}

Search Operation
Whenever an element is to be searched. Compute the hash code of the key passed and locate the
element using that hashcode as index in the array. Use linear probing to get element ahead if
element not found at computed hash code.
struct DataItem *search(int key){
//get the hash
int hashIndex = hashCode(key);

//move in array until an empty

while(hashArray[hashIndex] != NULL){

if(hashArray[hashIndex]->key == key)
return hashArray[hashIndex];

//go to next cell

++hashIndex;

//wrap around the table

hashIndex %= SIZE;
}

return NULL;
}

Insert Operation
Whenever an element is to be inserted. Compute the hash code of the key passed and locate the
index using that hashcode as index in the array. Use linear probing for empty location if an
element is found at computed hash code.

void insert(int key,int data){

struct DataItem *item = (struct DataItem*) malloc(sizeof(struct DataItem));
item->data = data;
item->key = key;

//get the hash

int hashIndex = hashCode(key);

//move in array until an empty or deleted cell

while(hashArray[hashIndex] != NULL && hashArray[hashIndex]->key != -1){
//go to next cell
++hashIndex;

//wrap around the table

hashIndex %= SIZE;
}

hashArray[hashIndex] = item;
}

Delete Operation
Whenever an element is to be deleted. Compute the hash code of the key passed and locate the
index using that hashcode as index in the array. Use linear probing to get element ahead if an
element is not found at computed hash code. When found, store a dummy item there to keep
performance of hashtable intact.

struct DataItem* delete(struct DataItem* item){

int key = item->key;

//get the hash

int hashIndex = hashCode(key);

//move in array until an empty

while(hashArray[hashIndex] !=NULL){

if(hashArray[hashIndex]->key == key){
struct DataItem* temp = hashArray[hashIndex];

//assign a dummy item at deleted position

hashArray[hashIndex] = dummyItem;
 return temp;
}

//go to next cell

++hashIndex;

//wrap around the table

hashIndex %= SIZE;
}

return NULL;
}

To see hash implementation in C programming language, please click here.

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