adding same entry index number to coll?

When you try to recall index from coll, you will se that this manual entry using several indexes with same address makes no sense.
Only one line will get output, depending on sorting order.
Only that at some point warning for that disappeared from coll text editor.

let's say I have three groups:
Group 0
Group 1
Group 2

when pressing the number 0 I would like to store whatever value of x my mouse was at and store that into coll.
when pressing the number 1 I would like to store whatever value of x my mouse was at and store that into coll.

same with the number 2.

then I will be able to compare the x values of those groups with an input number and change the output accoridngly

here is an example of what I mean. This is why I want multiple indexes with the same value inside coll.

you can not have multiple indentical indexes.
If you want to add more values into same index, use merge message.
Coll help file is very easy to read.
But maybe you need differnt data structure for your comparisons.

So I'm using merge to add more values to the same index.
here is the updated patch:

the part of the patch on the right hand side that should output the closest much of x axis is not recognize the fact I store more then 1 value in the index, rather is make the comparison only with the first value at each index.

how can I apply that system for each value at any index?

Thanks!

if to try and explain better.
Assuming I have those values in the Coll object:

0, 10 20 30;
1, 5 15 25;

if the value I compare (x axis from mouse) is 8 the output of closest much should be 0(index o)
if the value I compare is 17 the output should be 1(index 1)

the way the patch is now the comparison is not made with the other values in the indexes rather only with the first value at each index(either 10(index 0) or 5 (index 1).

here is what you asked for, to get index of closest match

Thank you very much!
What is those value at the 'xxx' Coll?
How can I also display the closest value match and not only the index of that value?

values in xxx coll are calculated distances to current mouse x position.
input list divided by current position, which would give value of 1. for exact match.
But we want smallest deviation value, and that's abs(1- .....) so that exact match will become 0.
lowest overall value in xxx coll is the winner.
You actually don't need all items in xxx coll, 1st item is enough,
but I placed full list there, hoping that together with vexpr, you will understand
what is going on in the patch.
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zl.sort reorders vexpr output so that smallest value becomes 1st item in the list.
Because when one queries coll to output lowest value (min) , it does so on given slot (which is per default 1) in all indexes.
If you want to catch closest value as well, you need to use reordered indexes from zl.sort, and query closest match in original coll using nth message.

You need coll for this job, zl and other list tools would fail,
because you could start without capturing positions for all 3 indexes,
or even add more capture indexes,
which would make it difficult to assign values and calculations.
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Why did you not ask from the biginning that you need both and not only index
of closest match ?

here is the patch

I removed parts which were not needed.
you can delete cellblocks too, they are anyway slowing everything down
but I placed them for you to monitor the values in the colls while programming.

Thanks for explaining.
I try to add an option to manualy adding and changing values using the textedit object.

The problem is that because the data is constantly dump into coll then into the textedit object I can't manually change the values, rather I need to disconnect the string that goes from coll object to preprend set >> textedit object

How can I fix that?