The nel argument is an estimate of the maximum number of entries that the table will contain. This number may be adjusted upward by the algorithm in order to obtain certain mathematically favourable circumstances. It returns a pointer into a hash table indicating the location at which an entry can be found. FIND indicates that no entry should be made.
Unsuccessful resolution is indicated by the return of a null pointer.
The following example will read in strings followed by two numbers and store them in a hash table, discarding duplicates. It will then read in strings and find the matching entry in the hash table and print it out.