Access hash table by value, not key?

Question

Q: how can I access a hash table by its value, not its key?

Association lists can be accessed via either their key or their value:

(setq alist '((a .1) (b . 2) (c . 3)))
(assoc 'a alist)                        ; => (a . 1)
(rassoc 3 alist)                        ; => (c . 3)

Is there a hash table analog to rassoc that would allow me to find the key in the hash table associated with value?

Answer 1

1. There's no predefined function for this, as far as I know.

2. It's wrong to speak of the key associated with a given value. There can be more than one key with the same value.

3. I use these functions (defined in apu.el):

(defun apu-get-hash-keys (value hash-table &optional value-test-function)
  "Return a list of keys associated with VALUE in HASH-TABLE.
Optional arg VALUE-TEST-FUNCTION (default `equal') is the equality
predicate used to compare values."
  (setq value-test-function  (or value-test-function  #'equal))
  (let ((keys  ()))
    (maphash (lambda (key val)
               (when (funcall value-test-function val value)
                 (push key keys)))
             hash-table)
    keys))

(defun apu-get-a-hash-key (value hash-table &optional value-test-function)
  "Return a hash key associated with VALUE in HASH-TABLE.
If there is more than one such key then it is undefined which is
returned.
Optional arg VALUE-TEST-FUNCTION (default `equal') is the equality
predicate used to compare values."
  (setq value-test-function  (or value-test-function  #'equal))
  (catch 'get-a-hash-key
    (maphash (lambda (key val)
               (when (funcall value-test-function val value)
                 (throw 'get-a-hash-key key)))
             hash-table)
    nil))