Looking for such structure like <map> in AIML. Must have been a common requirement but I could not find any clue searching the forum.

Thanks for any assist.

In general, concepts can do most anything in this area, along with ^query as needed.  What is an example of what you want to do?

Say I have concepts of key/value pairs like this:

:concept ~keys (key1 key2 key3)
:concept ~values (value1 value2 value3)

How can I get the corresponding value given a key?

Facts and ^query seem to provide functions a lot more wider and complicated.

Thanks.

for a one-to-one map, you can use $$tmp = ^find(~keys key1) to get the integer offset into the set
and then
^nth(~values $$tmp) 
to get the mate.

Thank you for the instruction, Bruce. I will certainly try it.

Need further help.

The ^find call works well. However I could not make ^nth work. Test screen attached.

Did I make any mistake? Or is ^nth a 5.3 function (mine is 5.1)? Thanks.

This works for me:

concept: ~val( val1 val2 val3 val4)

topic: ~introductions   keep ()
t: hi ^keep() ^repeat()
u: (test) nth(~val 2)

Nth is not new code.

however, allowing it for sets was done in the version after 5.1

Yes, I noticed it was done in 5.2. I have migrated my script to the 5.3 environment. So nth() works perfectly now.

Thank you so much for all your patience and advice, Bruce.

Another approach would be to use ^query as Bruce suggested and to use facts and create actual key/value pairs.

In an effort to make facts more accessible I am posting a couple of output macros that wrap some of the fact logic in more familiar commands .

The following implement “mapadd” to create a key value pair and “map” to retrieve a value based on the key:

# Add Key Value Pair to a Map
outputmacro: ^mapadd( ^mapname ^key ^value )
$$mapname = ^join( mapname: ^mapname )
^createfact( $$mapname ^key ^value )

# Retrieve Key Value Pair from a Map
outputmacro: ^map( ^mapname ^key )
$$mapname = ^join( mapname: ^mapname )
@0 = ^query( direct_sv $$mapname ^key ? 1 )
@0object

You can place the following in a topic to add and retrieve key/value pairs interactively:

# Add a Key Value Pair to a Map
#! mapadd( daysofweek , 1 , Monday )
u: ( mapadd \(  _* , _* , _* \) ) ^keep ^repeat
^mapadd( ‘_0 ‘_1 ‘_2 )
      Key\/Value pair \( ‘_1 , ‘_2 \) was added to map \” ‘_0 \”.

# Retrieve a Value for a Key in a Map
#! map ( daysofweek , 1 )
u: ( map \( _* , _* \) ) ^keep ^repeat
$$value = ^map( ‘_0 ‘_1 )
Key \” ‘_1 \” has a value of \” $$value \” in map \” ‘_0 \”.

Sample Output:
  >mapadd( daysofweek , 7 , Sunday )
Key/Value pair (7, Sunday ) was added to map “daysofweek”.
  >map( daysofweek , 7 )
Key “7” has a value of “Sunday” in map “daysofweek”.
  >

The command names could just as easily been named “factadd” and “getfactobject”.

Note: The fact subject is added with “mapname:” prefixed to the actual subject so that other facts do not mix together with these “maps” or named sets of key/value pairs.  If you wanted to query for the mapname in the facts you will need to prefix “mapname:” to the subject being queried.

Thank you very much, Alaric, for such nice design and sharing.

I’ll certainly try the design when my project requirement gets more complicated. Guess this is also a good example for newbie like me to learn about fact. Appreciate it.