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Sets (std::set)

Set guarantees that each element occurs at most once. Import with use std::Set. The API covers creation, insertion, removal, membership tests and the algebraic set operations — union and intersection.

Create and add

Set::new() creates an empty set. add silently ignores duplicate values. has tests membership in O(1).

Automatic deduplication of strings and integers; loop duplicate-filter pattern.

01-new-and-add.zolo
Playground
// Feature: Set.new / Set.add / Set.has — create and populate a set

// When to use: enforcing uniqueness, fast membership tests.


use std::Set

let s = Set::new()
s.add("a")
s.add("b")
s.add("a")  // duplicate: ignored


print(s.len())  // expected: 2

print(s.has("a"))  // expected: true

print(s.has("c"))  // expected: false


// Set with integers.

let nums = Set::new()
nums.add(1)
nums.add(2)
nums.add(3)
nums.add(2)  // dup

print(nums.len())  // expected: 3


// Pattern: filter duplicates in a loop.

let raw = ["foo", "bar", "foo", "baz", "bar", "qux"]
let uniq = Set::new()
for w in raw {
  uniq.add(w)
}
print(uniq.len())  // expected: 4

Remove and check size

remove(v) deletes the element — operating on a missing element is safe. is_empty() is the shorthand for len() == 0.

is_empty before and after insertions; idempotent remove; incremental emptying.

02-remove-and-len.zolo
Playground
// Feature: Set.remove / Set.len / Set.is_empty

// When to use: clearing entries dynamically, checking for an empty set.


use std::Set

let s = Set.new()
print(s.is_empty())  // expected: true

print(s.len())  // expected: 0


s.add("a")
s.add("b")
s.add("c")
print(s.is_empty())  // expected: false

print(s.len())  // expected: 3


s.remove("b")
print(s.has("b"))  // expected: false

print(s.len())  // expected: 2


// remove on a missing key is safe.

s.remove("z")
print(s.len())  // expected: 2


// Empty it out.

s.remove("a")
s.remove("c")
print(s.is_empty())  // expected: true

Union and intersection

union returns a new set with all elements from both; intersect returns only the common elements. Set::from(array) is the array-based constructor.

Shared tags between two posts via intersect; union to combine two sets.

03-union-intersect.zolo
Playground
// Feature: Set.union / Set.intersect — set operations

// When to use: combining tag lists, finding common elements.


use std::Set

let a = Set::from([1, 2, 3])
let b = Set::from([2, 3, 4])

// Union — every element in A or B.

let u = a.union(b)
print(u.len())  // expected: 4

print(u.has(1))  // expected: true

print(u.has(4))  // expected: true


// Intersection — only elements in both A and B.

let i = a.intersect(b)
print(i.len())  // expected: 2

print(i.has(2))  // expected: true

print(i.has(3))  // expected: true

print(i.has(1))  // expected: false


// Practical case: tags shared between two posts.

let tags1 = Set::from(["rust", "zolo", "compilers"])
let tags2 = Set::from(["zolo", "vm", "compilers"])
let common = tags1.intersect(tags2)
print(common.len())  // expected: 2

print(common.has("zolo"))  // expected: true

print(common.has("compilers"))  // expected: true

Convert to array

Set::from(array) deduplicates on construction; to_array() extracts the elements back. Composing both is the standard idiom for deduplicating a list.

Set::from + to_array to deduplicate; union + to_array to merge two lists without repetition.

04-to-array.zolo
Playground
// Feature: Set.from / Set.to_array — converting between Set and array

// When to use: deduplicating an array, then iterating or serializing the result.


use std::Set

// from — creates a set from an array, deduplicating.

let s = Set::from([1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4])
print(s.len())  // expected: 4


// to_array — extracts the elements as an array.

let arr = s.to_array()
print(arr.len())  // expected: 4


// Classic pattern: deduplicate a list of strings.

let raw = ["foo", "bar", "foo", "baz", "bar"]
let unique = Set::from(raw).to_array()
print(unique.len())  // expected: 3


// Combine union + to_array to merge two lists without duplicates.

let l1 = ["red", "green"]
let l2 = ["green", "blue"]
let merged = Set::from(l1).union(Set::from(l2)).to_array()
print(merged.len())  // expected: 3

Challenge

Given an array of words with repetitions, use Set::from to obtain the unique ones, convert back to an array with to_array, sort manually (with reduce or sort if available) and print in order.

enespt-br