[Bitcoin-development] bitcoind json API (gettx/raw) (newbie questions #2)

[Denis Andrejew <da.colonel@gmail.com>]

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Hey everybody,

here's another question that I have:

I'd like a small bit of clarification about the gettx / getrawtransaction
(decoded) api call. I understand that I can find the address that a
transaction output is directed at / available to for future use sits in the
vout array in the scriptPubKey.addresses array. I'm a little uncertain as
to why that piece of information would be typed as an array when all it
ever seems to contain is one (not more, not less) address(es).

Are there any cases of transactions right now that don't contain exactly 1
item in that array, i.e. more or less than a single address (per single
vout element, not per tx)? Or is the thinking behind this array to somehow
make the data structure more extensible for potential future use? But then
I can't think of any use cases where it appears to make any sense to put
more than 1 address there...

Or am I even asking the wrong questions? For spending those coins, i.e.
using them in a future transaction it's all about owning the public/private
key that is contained in the vout script, right? So the address doesn't
really matter and it could be 2 or more (or none at all?) addresses in
there, and what matters is just that the next guy has the key to spending
those coins... ?

Once again I'm coming to these questions from a project where I'm trying to
calculate unspent outputs and from that balances for all accounts and I'm
not sure yet what other special cases there might be in the blockchain that
I need to be aware of and handle properly in order to (re-)produce accurate
data!

Thanks for your help, much appreciated!
- Denis

"Be the change you want to see in the world." (Mahatma Gandhi)

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