git/list[1] front-page[2] threads[3] people[4] search[5] about
 

[PATCH 2/4] string-list: replace negative index encoding with "exact_match" parameter

From
shejialuo <shejialuo@gmail.com>
Date
Sep 7, 2025, 16:42 UTC
Message-ID
<aL219d7FYJQNKBEf@ArchLinux>
In-Reply-To
<aL21cEM0OcnrKtBW@ArchLinux>

We would return negative index to indicate exact match by converting the original positive index to be "-1 - index" in "string_list_find_insert_index", which requires callers to decode this information.

This is bad due to the following reasons:
1. The callers need to convert the negative index back to the original
   positive value, which requires the callers to understand the detail
   of the function.
2. As we have to return negative index, we need to specify the return
   type to be `int` instead of `size_t`, which would cause sign compare
   warnings.

Refactor "string_list_find_insert_index" to use an output parameter "exact_match" for indicating the exact match rather than encoding through negative return values.

Signed-off-by: shejialuo <shejialuo@gmail.com>
---
 add-interactive.c | 7 ++++---
 mailmap.c         | 7 +++----
 refs.c            | 2 +-
 string-list.c     | 8 ++------
 string-list.h     | 2 +-
 5 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)
diff --git a/add-interactive.c b/add-interactive.c
index 3e692b47ec..9a42b3b38b 100644
--- a/add-interactive.c
+++ b/add-interactive.c
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ static void find_unique_prefixes(struct prefix_item_list *list)
 
 static ssize_t find_unique(const char *string, struct prefix_item_list *list)
 {
-	int index = string_list_find_insert_index(&list->sorted, string, 1);
+	int exact_match;
+	int index = string_list_find_insert_index(&list->sorted, string, &exact_match);
 	struct string_list_item *item;
 
 	if (list->items.nr != list->sorted.nr)
@@ -229,8 +230,8 @@ static ssize_t find_unique(const char *string, struct prefix_item_list *list)
 		    " vs %"PRIuMAX")",
 		    (uintmax_t)list->items.nr, (uintmax_t)list->sorted.nr);
 
-	if (index < 0)
-		item = list->sorted.items[-1 - index].util;
+	if (exact_match)
+		item = list->sorted.items[index].util;
 	else if (index > 0 &&
 		 starts_with(list->sorted.items[index - 1].string, string))
 		return -1;
diff --git a/mailmap.c b/mailmap.c
index 56c72102d9..253517cdf6 100644
--- a/mailmap.c
+++ b/mailmap.c
@@ -243,10 +243,9 @@ void clear_mailmap(struct string_list *map)
 static struct string_list_item *lookup_prefix(struct string_list *map,
 					      const char *string, size_t len)
 {
-	int i = string_list_find_insert_index(map, string, 1);
-	if (i < 0) {
-		/* exact match */
-		i = -1 - i;
+	int exact_match;
+	int i = string_list_find_insert_index(map, string, &exact_match);
+	if (exact_match) {
 		if (!string[len])
 			return &map->items[i];
 		/*
diff --git a/refs.c b/refs.c
index 4ff55cf24f..f1ff5bf846 100644
--- a/refs.c
+++ b/refs.c
@@ -1699,7 +1699,7 @@ const char *find_descendant_ref(const char *dirname,
 	 * with dirname (remember, dirname includes the trailing
 	 * slash) and is not in skip, then we have a conflict.
 	 */
-	for (pos = string_list_find_insert_index(extras, dirname, 0);
+	for (pos = string_list_find_insert_index(extras, dirname, NULL);
 	     pos < extras->nr; pos++) {
 		const char *extra_refname = extras->items[pos].string;
 
diff --git a/string-list.c b/string-list.c
index bf358d1a5c..224bc182ff 100644
--- a/string-list.c
+++ b/string-list.c
@@ -92,13 +92,9 @@ int string_list_has_string(const struct string_list *list, const char *string)
 }
 
 int string_list_find_insert_index(const struct string_list *list, const char *string,
-				  int negative_existing_index)
+				  int *exact_match)
 {
-	int exact_match;
-	int index = get_entry_index(list, string, &exact_match);
-	if (exact_match)
-		index = -1 - (negative_existing_index ? index : 0);
-	return index;
+	return get_entry_index(list, string, exact_match);
 }
 
 struct string_list_item *string_list_lookup(struct string_list *list, const char *string)
diff --git a/string-list.h b/string-list.h
index 2b438c7733..03c7009472 100644
--- a/string-list.h
+++ b/string-list.h
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ void string_list_remove_empty_items(struct string_list *list, int free_util);
 /** Determine if the string_list has a given string or not. */
 int string_list_has_string(const struct string_list *list, const char *string);
 int string_list_find_insert_index(const struct string_list *list, const char *string,
-				  int negative_existing_index);
+				  int *exact_match);
 
 /**
  * Insert a new element to the string_list. The returned pointer can
-- 
2.51.0
Previous: Patrick SteinhardtNext: Patrick Steinhardt
Message 4 of 43 in “enhance string-list API to fix sign compare warnings”
  1. 0/4 enhance string-list API to fix sign compare warningsshejialuo, Sep 7, 2025
  2. 1/4 string-list: allow passing NULL for `get_entry_index`shejialuo, Sep 7, 2025
  3. Patrick SteinhardtSep 9, 2025
  4. 2/4 string-list: replace negative index encoding with "exact_match" parametershejialuo, Sep 7, 2025
  5. Patrick SteinhardtSep 9, 2025
  6. shejialuoSep 15, 2025
  7. 3/4 string-list: change "string_list_find_insert_index" return type to "size_t"shejialuo, Sep 7, 2025
  8. Patrick SteinhardtSep 9, 2025
  9. Junio C HamanoSep 9, 2025
  10. Patrick SteinhardtSep 10, 2025
  11. 4/4 refs: enable sign compare warnings checkshejialuo, Sep 7, 2025
  12. Patrick SteinhardtSep 9, 2025
  13. shejialuoSep 7, 2025
  14. 0/4 enhance string-list API to fix sign compare warningsshejialuo, Sep 17, 2025
  15. 1/4 string-list: use bool instead of int for "exact_match"shejialuo, Sep 17, 2025
  16. 2/4 string-list: replace negative index encoding with "exact_match" parametershejialuo, Sep 17, 2025
  17. Patrick SteinhardtSep 23, 2025
  18. shejialuoOct 5, 2025
  19. Karthik NayakSep 23, 2025
  20. Junio C HamanoSep 23, 2025
  21. Jeff KingSep 24, 2025
  22. Junio C HamanoSep 24, 2025
  23. Jeff KingSep 25, 2025
  24. Junio C HamanoSep 25, 2025
  25. Jeff KingOct 9, 2025
  26. Collin FunkOct 8, 2025
  27. Jeff KingOct 9, 2025
  28. shejialuoOct 5, 2025
  29. shejialuoOct 5, 2025
  30. 3/4 string-list: change "string_list_find_insert_index" return type to "size_t"shejialuo, Sep 17, 2025
  31. Karthik NayakSep 23, 2025
  32. shejialuoOct 5, 2025
  33. 4/4 refs: enable sign compare warnings checkshejialuo, Sep 17, 2025
  34. 0/4 enhance string-list API to fix sign compare warningsshejialuo, Oct 6, 2025
  35. 1/4 string-list: use bool instead of int for "exact_match"shejialuo, Oct 6, 2025
  36. 2/4 string-list: replace negative index encoding with "exact_match" parametershejialuo, Oct 6, 2025
  37. 3/4 string-list: change "string_list_find_insert_index" return type to "size_t"shejialuo, Oct 6, 2025
  38. Jeff KingOct 9, 2025
  39. 4/4 refs: enable sign compare warnings checkshejialuo, Oct 6, 2025
  40. Junio C HamanoOct 6, 2025
  41. Collin FunkOct 8, 2025
  42. Junio C HamanoOct 8, 2025
  43. Karthik NayakOct 8, 2025

Read the whole thread, see it on lore, or plain text.

$ cat FOOTERMessages come from the public archive at lore.kernel.org/git, fetched every hour. The front page is chosen and written each morning by an AI editor and can be wrong; the threads themselves are the record. About and API. For agents: an MCP server at https://gitlist.dev/mcp, and any thread, story or person page as Markdown by adding .md to its URL (or sending Accept: text/markdown). Details in /llms.txt.