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Dict

A Dict in Elm is an immutable dictionary of zero or more key-value pairs.

Dicts are manipulated by functions and operators defined in the Dict module.

Type annotations for dicts are written as follows

Dict String (List Int) --> a dict with String keys and List Int values
Dict Int String --> a dict with Int keys and String values

Dicts can be created as follows:

empty : Dict Int String
empty = Dict.empty

singleValue = Dict.singleton 5 "Value for key 5" --> Dict Int String

twoValues = Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 0 ), ( "Bob", 1 ) ] --> Dict String Int

Items can be retrieved using get. As a key may or may not be present in the dict, the result will be wrapped in a Maybe.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ) ]
keyExists = Dict.get 0 alice --> Just "Alice"
keyNotPresent = Dict.get 1 alice --> Nothing

Items can be added using insert. Items for keys that are already in the dict get replaced.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 0 ) ]
aliceAndBob = Dict.insert "Bob" 1 alice  --> Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 0 ), ( "Bob", 1 ) ]
aliceAndAlice = Dict.insert "Alice" 1 alice  --> Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 1 ) ]

Items can be updated using update. If the key doesn't exist the update function will be called with Nothing.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ) ]
aliceUpperCase = Dict.update 0 (Maybe.map String.toUpper) alice --> Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "ALICE" ) ]
aliceNoCase = Dict.update 0 (\_ -> Nothing) alice --> Dict.empty
bobUpperCase = Dict.update 1 (\_ -> Just "BOB") alice --> Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ), ( 1, "BOB" ) ]
bobNoCase = Dict.update 1 (\_ -> Nothing) alice --> Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ) ]

Items can be removed using remove. If the key doesn't exist, no change is made.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ) ]
stillAlice = Dict.remove 1 --> ( 0, "Alice" )
empty = Dict.remove 0 alice --> Dict.empty

A list of key value pairs can be converted into a dict with fromList.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Bob" ), ( 0, "Alice" ) ]
--> True Dict.fromList [ ( 0, "Alice" ) ]

Items can be converted to a list using toList. The list is ordered by the keys.

aliceAndBob = Dict.fromList [ ( 1, "Alice" ), ( 0, "Bob" ) ]
bobAndAlice = Dict.toList aliceAndBob
--> [ ( 0, "Bob" ), ( 1, "Alice" ) ]

Multiple items can be removed using filter.

aliceAndBob = Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 1 ), ( "Bob", 0 ) ]
bob = Dict.filter (\name count -> name == "Bob") aliceAndBob --> Dict.fromList [ ( "Bob", 0 ) ]

Items can be transformed using map.

alice = Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 0 ) ]
empty = Dict.map (\player count -> count + 1) alice --> Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 1 ) ]

Dicts can be combined / transformed using merge.

aliceAndBob = Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 1 ), ( "Bob", 1 ) ]
bobAndCedd = Dict.fromList [ ( "Bob", 1 ), ( "Cedd", 1 ) ]
firstDictCountsDouble = Dict.merge
        -- when only in aliceAndBob
        (\name count mergedCounts -> Dict.insert name (2 * count) mergedCounts)
        -- when in aliceAndBob and bobAndCedd
        (\name aliceAndBobCount bobAndCeddCount mergedCounts -> Dict.insert name (2 * aliceAndBobCount + bobAndCeddCount) mergedCounts)
        -- when only in bobAndCedd
        (\name count mergedCounts -> Dict.insert name count mergedCounts)
        -- the two dicts to merge
        aliceAndBob
        bobAndCedd
        -- the initial state of the merge
        Dict.empty
--> Dict.fromList [ ( "Alice", 2 ), ( "Bob", 3 ), ( "Cedd", 1 ) ]

Any function/operator that appears to modify a dict (such as adding an element), will actually return a new dict. Performance is usually not an issue, as the implementation prevents unnecessary allocations/copies.

In Elm, it is generally better to use higher level abstractions, such as Dict.map, Dict.filter and Dict.merge, instead of lower level abstractions such as Dict.get and Dict.remove, although it does of course depend on the context.