How do I combine hash values in C++0x?

Question

C++0x adds hash<...>(...).

I could not find a hash_combine function though, as presented in boost. What is the cleanest way to implement something like this? Perhaps, using C++0x xor_combine?

Solution 1

Well, just do it like the boost guys did it:

template <class T>
inline void hash_combine(std::size_t& seed, const T& v)
{
    std::hash<T> hasher;
    seed ^= hasher(v) + 0x9e3779b9 + (seed<<6) + (seed>>2);
}

Solution 2

I'll share it here since it can be useful to others looking for this solution: starting from @KarlvonMoor answer, here's a variadic template version, which is terser in its usage if you have to combine several values together:

inline void hash_combine(std::size_t& seed) { }

template <typename T, typename... Rest>
inline void hash_combine(std::size_t& seed, const T& v, Rest... rest) {
    std::hash<T> hasher;
    seed ^= hasher(v) + 0x9e3779b9 + (seed<<6) + (seed>>2);
    hash_combine(seed, rest...);
}

Usage:

std::size_t h=0;
hash_combine(h, obj1, obj2, obj3);

This was written originally to implement a variadic macro to easily make custom types hashable (which I think is one of the primary usages of a hash_combine function):

#define MAKE_HASHABLE(type, ...) \
    namespace std {\
        template<> struct hash<type> {\
            std::size_t operator()(const type &t) const {\
                std::size_t ret = 0;\
                hash_combine(ret, __VA_ARGS__);\
                return ret;\
            }\
        };\
    }

Usage:

struct SomeHashKey {
    std::string key1;
    std::string key2;
    bool key3;
};

MAKE_HASHABLE(SomeHashKey, t.key1, t.key2, t.key3)
// now you can use SomeHashKey as key of an std::unordered_map

Solution 3

A few days ago I came up with slightly improved version of this answer (C++ 17 support is required):

template <typename T, typename... Rest>
void hashCombine(uint& seed, const T& v, Rest... rest)
{
    seed ^= ::qHash(v) + 0x9e3779b9 + (seed << 6) + (seed >> 2);
    (hashCombine(seed, rest), ...);
}

The code above is better in terms of code generation. I used qHash function from Qt in my code, but it's also possible to use any other hashers.

Solution 4

This could also be solved by using a variadic template as follows:

#include <functional>

template <typename...> struct hash;

template<typename T> 
struct hash<T> 
    : public std::hash<T>
{
    using std::hash<T>::hash;
};


template <typename T, typename... Rest>
struct hash<T, Rest...>
{
    inline std::size_t operator()(const T& v, const Rest&... rest) {
        std::size_t seed = hash<Rest...>{}(rest...);
        seed ^= hash<T>{}(v) + 0x9e3779b9 + (seed << 6) + (seed >> 2);
        return seed;
    }
};

Usage:

#include <string>

int main(int,char**)
{
    hash<int, float, double, std::string> hasher;
    std::size_t h = hasher(1, 0.2f, 2.0, "Hello World!");
}

One could certainly make a template function, but this could cause some nasty type deduction e.g hash("Hallo World!") will calculate a hash value on the pointer rather than on the string. This is probably the reason, why the standard uses a struct.

Solution 5

The answer by vt4a2h is certainly nice but uses the C++17 fold expression and not everyone is able to switch to a newer toolchain easily. The version below uses the expander trick to emulate a fold expression and works in C++11 and C++14 as well.

Additionally, I marked the function inline and use perfect forwarding for the variadic template arguments.

template <typename T, typename... Rest>
inline void hashCombine(std::size_t &seed, T const &v, Rest &&... rest) {
    std::hash<T> hasher;
    seed ^= hasher(v) + 0x9e3779b9 + (seed << 6) + (seed >> 2);
    (int[]){0, (hashCombine(seed, std::forward<Rest>(rest)), 0)...};
}

Live example on Compiler Explorer

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