Intersection of hashsets

#1

Hi.

I need to get the intersection of several sets of indexes into a vector (usize). However, I can't get the code to deploy. This minimal example won't compile:

let search_set : HashSet<usize> = HashSet::new();
let part_result : HashSet<usize> = HashSet::new();

let intersection : HashSet<usize> = search_set.intersection(&part_result).collect();

This gives me the following errors:

a collection of type std::collections::HashSet<usize> cannot be built from an iterator over elements of type &usize

a collection of type std::collections::HashSet<usize> cannot be built from std::iter::Iterator<Item=&usize>

help: the trait std::iter::FromIterator<&usize> is not implemented for std::collections::HashSet<usize>

and:

a collection of type std::collections::HashSet<usize> cannot be built from std::iter::Iterator<Item=&usize>

I've tried to implement the FromIterator<&usize> for HashSet but got blocked by the compiler.

I'm also confused why the internal type is &usize? Is this because the hashsets owns the internally-held usizes, so the type is a reference? But shouldn't the HashSet store them in continous memory? Having a reference for each usize seems... slow?

I'm rather new to rust, so apologies if this is completely basic stuff.

  • Dan
#2

The message is about .collect(). It never wants you to actually make an implementation. It tries to say that elements you have as an input - &usize are not the same as the element type you demand in the output - usize.

Just change &usize to usize with .copied() adaptor:

let intersection : HashSet<usize> = search_set.intersection(&part_result).copied().collect();

You get &usize in the first place, because intersection picks elements from two hashsets by reference (it avoids cloning in case the elements were big/expensive to clone, and without cloning you get to work with references).

1 Like
#3

It avoids cloning to also support types that can't be cloned. Such as unique references, or MutexGuard

#4

Thanks!