# Berkeley DB: DB->set_dup_compare
Berkeley DB: An embedded database programmatic toolkit.
Keywords: embedded,database,programmatic,toolkit,b+tree,btree,hash,hashing,transaction,transactions,locking,logging,access method,access methods,java,C,C++

# DB->set_dup_compare

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    #include <db.h>

    int
    DB->set_dup_compare(DB *db,
        int (*dup_compare_fcn)(DB *, const DBT *, const DBT *));

# Description

Set the duplicate data item comparison function. The comparison function is called when it is necessary to compare a data item specified by the application with a data item currently stored in the tree. The first argument to the comparison function is the DBT representing the application's data item; the second is the current tree's data item.

The comparison function must return an integer value less than, equal to, or greater than zero if the first data item argument is considered to be respectively less than, equal to, or greater than the second data item argument. In addition, the comparison function must cause the data items in the set to be well-ordered. The comparison function must correctly handle any data item values used by the application (possibly including zero-length data items). The data and size fields of the DBT are the only fields that may be used for the purposes of this comparison, and no particular alignment of the memory to which the data field refers may be assumed.

If no comparison function is specified, the data items are compared lexically, with shorter data items collating before longer data items. The same duplicate data item comparison method must be used each time a particular Btree is opened.

The DB->set_dup_compare interface may be used only to configure Berkeley DB before the DB->open interface is called.

The DB->set_dup_compare function returns a non-zero error value on failure and 0 on success.

# Errors

The DB->set_dup_compare function may fail and return a non-zero error for the following conditions:

EINVAL
  An invalid flag value or parameter was specified.

The DB->set_dup_compare function may fail and return a non-zero error for errors specified for other Berkeley DB and C library or system functions. If a catastrophic error has occurred, the DB->set_dup_compare function may fail and return DB_RUNRECOVERY, in which case all subsequent Berkeley DB calls will fail in the same way.

# See Also

db_create, DB->associate, DB->close, DB->cursor, DB->del, DB->err, DB->errx DB->fd, DB->get, DB->pget, DB->get_byteswapped, DB->get_type, DB->join, DB->key_range, DB->open, DB->put, DB->remove, DB->rename, DB->set_alloc, DB->set_append_recno, DB->set_bt_compare, DB->set_bt_minkey, DB->set_bt_prefix, DB->set_cachesize, DB->set_dup_compare, DB->set_errcall, DB->set_errfile, DB->set_errpfx, DB->set_feedback, DB->set_flags, DB->set_h_ffactor, DB->set_h_hash, DB->set_h_nelem, DB->set_lorder, DB->set_pagesize, DB->set_paniccall, DB->set_q_extentsize, DB->set_re_delim, DB->set_re_len, DB->set_re_pad, DB->set_re_source, DB->stat, DB->sync, DB->truncate, DB->upgrade, and DB->verify.`

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