Dynamic Arrays & Slices

Syntax#

<type>[] <name>;

Remarks#

Slices generate a new view on existing memory. They don’t create a new copy. If no slice holds a reference to that memory anymore - or a sliced part of it - it will be freed by the garbage collector.

Using slices it’s possible to write very efficient code for e.g. parsers that just operate on one memory block and just slice the parts they really need to work on - no need allocating new memory blocks.

Declaration and initialization

import std.stdio;

void main() {
    int[] arr = [1, 2, 3, 4];

    writeln(arr.length); // 4
    writeln(arr[2]); // 3

    // type inference still works
    auto arr2 = [1, 2, 3, 4];
    writeln(typeof(arr2).stringof); // int[]
}

Array operations

import std.stdio;

void main() {
    int[] arr = [1, 2, 3];

    // concatenate
    arr ~= 4;
    writeln(arr); // [1, 2, 3, 4]

    // per element operations
    arr[] += 10
    writeln(arr); // [11, 12, 13, 14]
}

Slices

import std.stdio;

void main() {
    int[] arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
 
    auto arr2 = arr[1..$ - 1]; // .. is the slice syntax, $ represents the length of the array
    writeln(arr2); // [2, 3, 4]

    arr2[0] = 42;
    writeln(arr[1]); // 42
}