Published at LXer:

Hash table is a data structure to store key value pairs. As in, a table where each entry has a key and a corresponding value. In other words, it is like an array with indices having the flexibility to be of any type i.e. integer, float, char, string, etc. Henceforth, these indices are termed as keys. So, it is a way of laying down the structure such that, a key maps to the data and that is how we retrieve and access all data efficiently. The efficiency comes from the fact, the key is directly used as an index to search/access any data without caring about traversing the entire data-structure.

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