# DB->set_bt_prefix

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    #include <db.h>

    int
    DB->set_bt_prefix(DB *db,
        size_t (*bt_prefix_fcn)(DB *, const DBT *, const DBT *));

# Description

Set the Btree prefix function. The prefix function must return the number of bytes of the second key argument that would be required by the Btree key comparison function to determine the second key argument's ordering relationship with respect to the first key argument. If the two keys are equal, the key length should be returned. The prefix function must correctly handle any key values used by the application (possibly including zero-length keys). The data and size fields of the DBT are the only fields that may be used for the purposes of this determination, and no particular alignment of the memory to which the data field refers may be assumed.

The prefix function is used to determine the amount by which keys stored on the Btree internal pages can be safely truncated without losing their uniqueness. See the Btree prefix comparison section of the Berkeley DB Reference Guide for more details about how this works. The usefulness of this is data-dependent, but can produce significantly reduced tree sizes and search times in some data sets.

If no prefix function or key comparison function is specified by the application, a default lexical comparison function is used as the prefix function. If no prefix function is specified and a key comparison function is specified, no prefix function is used. It is an error to specify a prefix function without also specifying a key comparison function.

The DB->set_bt_prefix method configures operations performed using the specified DB handle, not all operations performed on the underlying database.

The DB->set_bt_prefix interface may not be called after the DB->open interface is called. If the database already exists when DB->open is called, the information specified to DB->set_bt_prefix must be the same as that historically used to create the database or corruption can occur.

The DB->set_bt_prefix method returns a non-zero error value on failure and 0 on success.

# Errors

The DB->set_bt_prefix method may fail and return a non-zero error for the following conditions:

EINVAL
  An invalid flag value or parameter was specified.

  Called after DB->open was called.

The DB->set_bt_prefix method may fail and return a non-zero error for errors specified for other Berkeley DB and C library or system functions. If a catastrophic error has occurred, the DB->set_bt_prefix method may fail and return DB_RUNRECOVERY, in which case all subsequent Berkeley DB calls will fail in the same way.

# Class

DB

# See Also

Databases and Related Methods`

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