[ Non-logical Variables, Arrays, Bags, Shelves and Stores | Reference Manual | Alphabetic Index ]

store_update(+StoreHandle, ++Key, -OldValue, ?NewValue)

Update an existing entry in a store object

StoreHandle: A store handle or store name
Key: A ground term
OldValue: A variable or arbitrary term (output)
NewValue: An arbitrary term

Description

Looks up a store entry under the given key. If one exists, the old value is unified with OldValue, and the store entry is overwritten with NewValue. Otherwise the predicate fails. It could be defined as:

        store_update(Store, Key, OldValue, NewValue) :-
            with_mutex(Store, (
                    store_get(Store, Key, Entry),
                    store_set(Store, Key, NewValue),
                    OldValue = Entry    % after update!
            )).

The key can be arbitrarily complex, but must be a ground term. The value can be an arbitrary term, and may contain uninstantiated variables. Note that values are copied when being stored or retrieved, therefore a retrieved nonground value will contain fresh variables rather than the original ones (this is similar to the behaviour of bags, shelves and global variables).

The complexity of the update operation is linear in the size of the key and both values, which are copied. For indexing purposes, a hash value is computed from the key, and the full depth of the key is taken into account.

Note: If StoreHandle is not a handle, then it must be an atom or a compound term, and the store is identified by this term's toplevel functor together with the context module.

Modes and Determinism

store_update(+, ++, -, ?) is semidet

Modules

This predicate is sensitive to its module context (tool predicate, see @/2).

Exceptions

(4) instantiation fault: StoreHandle is uninstantiated
(4) instantiation fault: Key is not ground
(5) type error: StoreHandle is neither atom nor compound term nor store handle
(45) named object does not exist: StoreHandle is not the name of a store

Examples