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Generalized equal? predicate

(generalized-equal? obj1 obj2 . comparator-list)

Compares obj1 and obj2 for equality using user-specified and built-in comparators. A comparator is a procedure that is given two arguments to compare. It returns #t if its arguments are to be considered equal, #f if they are to be considered unequal, and any other value if it cannot decide. The third argument passed to a comparator is a list of comparators to be used in recursive calls to generalized-equal?.

First, each element of comparator-list is invoked on obj1 and obj2, passing comparator-list as its third argument. If the comparator returns #t or #f, that is the result.

If all comparators in the list have been invoked without a #t or #f result, then generalized-equal? determines if both obj1 and obj2 are pairs, strings, vectors, u8vectors, hash tables with the same test function, or records of the same type. If they are not, then generalized-equal? returns what eqv? returns on obj1 and obj2.

Otherwise, if the containers have different numbers of elements, the result is #f. Otherwise, generalized-equal? invokes itself recursively on each corresponding element of the containers, passing itself the same comparators. If a recursive call returns #f, that is the result; if all recursive calls return #t, that is the result.

(predicates->comparator type-predicate compare-predicate)

Returns a comparator that invokes type-predicate on its first and its second arguments. If they both return #t, then they are assumed to be of the same type, and compare-predicate is invoked on the first and second arguments together. If the result is #t or #f, then the comparator returns #t or #f respectively. If they are not of the same type, a third value is returned. The comparator always ignores its third argument.

Comparators

Specifying all three of these comparators causes generalized-equal? to act like Common Lisp's EQUALP.

(numeric-comparator obj1 obj2 comparators-list)

A comparator that returns #t if obj1 and obj2 are numbers that are equal by =, #f if they are not equal by =, and a third value otherwise. The comparators-list argument is ignored.

(char-ci-comparator obj1 obj2 comparators-list)

A comparator that returns #t if obj1 and obj2 are both characters that are equal by char-ci=?, #f if they are not equal by char-ci=?, and a third value otherwise. The comparators-list argument is ignored.

(string-ci-comparator obj1 obj2 comparators-list)

A comparator that returns #t if obj1 and obj2 are both strings that are equal by string-ci=?, #f if they are not equal by string-ci=?, and a third value otherwise. The comparators-list argument is ignored.