Arrays - D Programming Language

Menu

- Learn
- Documentation
  - Language Reference
  - Library Reference
  - Command-line Reference
  - Feature Overview
  - Articles
- Downloads
- Packages
- Community
  - Blog
  - Orgs using D
  - Twitter
  - Forums
  - IRC
  - Community Discord
  - Wiki
  - GitHub
  - Issues
  - Get involved
  - Contributors
  - Foundation
  - Security Team
  - Donate
  - Sponsors
- Resources
  - Tour
  - Books
  - Tutorials
  - Tools
  - Editors
  - IDEs
  - run.dlang.io
  - Visual D
  - Acknowledgments
  - D Style
  - Glossary
  - Sitemap

Search
Report a bug
If you spot a problem with this page, click here to create a Bugzilla issue.
Improve this page
Quickly fork, edit online, and submit a pull request for this page. Requires a signed-in GitHub account. This works well for small changes. If you'd like to make larger changes you may want to consider using a local clone.

# Arrays

Contents

1. Kinds
   1. Static Arrays
   2. Dynamic Arrays
   3. Pointer Arrays
2. Array Declarations
3. Array Literals
4. Array Assignment
5. Indexing
   1. Pointer Arithmetic
6. Slicing
7. Array Length
8. Array Copying
   1. Overlapping Copying
9. Array Setting
10. Array Concatenation
11. Array Appending
12. Array Operations
13. Rectangular Arrays
14. Array Properties
    1. Setting Dynamic Array Length
    2. capacity and reserve
    3. Functions as Array Properties
15. Array Bounds Checking
    1. Disabling Array Bounds Checking
16. Array Initialization
    1. Default Initialization
    2. Length Initialization
    3. Void Initialization
    4. Static Initialization of Statically Allocated Arrays
17. Special Array Types
    1. Strings
    2. Void Arrays
18. Implicit Conversions

## Kinds

There are four kinds of arrays:

Kinds of Arrays
Syntax | Description
--- | ---
type[integer] | Static arrays
type[] | Dynamic arrays
type* | Pointer arrays
type[type] | Associative arrays

### Static Arrays

    int[3] s;

Static arrays have a length fixed at compile time.

The total size of a static array cannot exceed 16Mb.

A static array with a dimension of 0 is allowed, but no space is allocated for it.

Static arrays are value types. They are passed to and returned by functions by value.

Best Practices:

1. Use dynamic arrays for larger arrays.
2. Static arrays with 0 elements are useful as the last member of a variable length struct, or as the degenerate case of a template expansion.
3. Because static arrays are passed to functions by value, a larger array can consume a lot of stack space. Use dynamic arrays instead.

### Dynamic Arrays

    int[] a;

Dynamic arrays consist of a length and a pointer to the array data. Multiple dynamic arrays can share all or parts of the array data.

Best Practices:

1. Use dynamic arrays instead of pointer arrays as much as practical. Indexing of dynamic arrays are bounds checked, avoiding buffer underflow and overflow problems.

### Pointer Arrays

    int* p;

A pointer can manipulate a block of multiple contiguous values in memory. Accessing more than one value cannot be @safe as it requires pointer arithmetic. This is supported for interfacing with C and for specialized systems work. A pointer has no length associated with it, so there is no way for the compiler or runtime to do bounds checking, etc., on it.

Best Practices: Most conventional uses for pointers can be replaced with dynamic arrays, ref and out parameters, and reference types.

## Array Declarations

Declarations appear before the identifier being declared and read right to left, so:

    int[] a;      // dynamic array of ints
    int[4][3] b;  // array of 3 arrays of 4 ints each
    int[][5] c;   // array of 5 dynamic arrays of ints.
    int*[]*[3] d; // array of 3 pointers to dynamic arrays of pointers to ints
    int[]* e;     // pointer to dynamic array of ints

## Array Literals

    auto a1 = [1,2,3];  // type is int[], with elements 1, 2, and 3
    auto a2 = [1u,2,3]; // type is uint[], with elements 1u, 2u, and 3u
    int[2] a3 = [1,2];  // type is int[2], with elements 1, and 2

[] is an empty array literal.

See Array Literals.

## Array Assignment

There are two broad kinds of operations to do on dynamic arrays and pointer arrays - those affecting the handle to the array, and those affecting the contents of the array. Assignment only affects the handle for these types.

The .ptr property for static and dynamic arrays will give the address of the first element in the array:

    int* p;
    int[3] s;
    int[] a;

    p = s.ptr; // p points to the first element of the array s.
    p = a.ptr; // p points to the first element of the array a.

    // error, since the length of the array pointed to by p is unknown
    //s = p;

    //a = p;   // error, length unknown
    a = s;     // a points to the elements of s
    assert(a.ptr == s.ptr);

    int[] b;
    a = b;     // a points to the same array as b does
    assert(a.ptr == b.ptr);
    assert(a == []);

Note: The two error lines above can be made to copy elements using pointer slicing, so that the number of elements to copy is then known.

A static array can be assigned from a dynamic array - the data is copied. The lengths must match:

    int[3] s;
    int[] a;

    //s = [1, 2]; // error
    s = [1, 2, 3]; // OK
    //s = [1, 2, 3, 4]; // error

    a = [4, 5, 6];
    s = a; // OK
    assert(s.ptr != a.ptr);
    a = [1, 2];
    //s = a; // RangeError, length mismatch

    a = s;
    assert(a.ptr == s.ptr);
    //s = a; // RangeError, overlap

The dynamic array data must not overlap with the static array memory. See also Copying.

## Indexing

Indexing allows access to an element of an array:

    auto a = [1,2,3];
    assert(a[0] == 1);
    assert(a[2] == 3);
    a[2] = 4;
    assert(a[2] == 4);
    assert(a == [1,2,4]);
    //writeln(a[3]); // runtime error (unless bounds checks turned off)

    int[2] b = [1,2];
    assert(b[1] == 2);
    //writeln(b[2]); // compile-time error, index out of bounds

See also IndexExpression.

### Pointer Arithmetic

A pointer can also be indexed, but no bounds checks are done. Unlike arrays, a pointer value can also be used in certain arithmetic expressions to produce another pointer:

    int[] a = [1,2,3];
    int* p = a.ptr;

    p[2] = 4;
    assert(a[2] == 4);
    writeln(p[3]); // undefined behaviour

    assert(p == &a[0]);
    p++; // point to a[1]
    assert(*p == 2);

See AddExpression for details.

## Slicing

Slicing an array means to specify a subarray of it. An array slice does not copy the data, it is only another reference to it. Slicing produces a dynamic array. For example:

    void foo(int value)
    {
      writeln("value=", value);
    }

    int[10] a;   // declare array of 10 ints
    int[] b;

    b = a[1..3]; // a[1..3] is a 2 element array consisting of
                 // a[1] and a[2]
    foo(b[1]);   // equivalent to foo(0)
    a[2] = 3;
    foo(b[1]);   // equivalent to foo(3)

Identifier[] is shorthand for a slice of the entire array.

Slicing is not only handy for referring to parts of other arrays, but for converting pointers into bounds-checked arrays:

    int[10] a = [ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 ];

    int* p = &a[2];
    writeln(p[7]);      // 10
    writeln(p[8]);      // undefined behaviour

    int[] b = p[0..8];  // convert pointer elements to dynamic array
    assert(b is a[2..10]);
    writeln(b);
    writeln(b[7]);      // 10
    //writeln(b[8]);    // runtime error (unless bounds checks turned off)

See also SliceExpression.

## Array Length

When indexing or slicing a static or dynamic array, the symbol $ represents the length of the array.

    int[4] foo;
    int[]  bar = foo;

    // These expressions are equivalent:
    bar = foo;
    bar = foo[];
    bar = foo[0 .. 4];
    bar = foo[0 .. $];
    bar = foo[0 .. foo.length];

    int* p = foo.ptr;
    //bar = p[0 .. $]; // error, '$' is not defined, since p is not an array

    int i;
    //i = foo[0]+$; // error, '$' is not defined, out of scope of [ ]
    i = bar[$-1]; // retrieves last element of the array

## Array Copying

When the slice operator appears as the left-hand side of an assignment expression, it means that the contents of the array are the target of the assignment rather than a reference to the array. Array copying happens when the left-hand side is a slice, and the right-hand side is an array of or pointer to the same type.

    int[3] s, t;
    int[] a;

    s = t;             // the 3 elements of t are copied into s
    s[] = t;           // the 3 elements of t are copied into s
    s[] = t[];         // the 3 elements of t are copied into s
    s[1..2] = t[0..1]; // same as s[1] = t[0]
    s[0..2] = t[1..3]; // same as s[0] = t[1], s[1] = t[2]
    //s[0..4] = t[0..4]; // error, only 3 elements in s and t
    //s[0..2] = t;       // error, operands have different lengths

    a = [1, 2];
    s[0..2] = a;
    assert(s == [1, 2, 0]);

    //a[] = s; // RangeError, lengths don't match
    a[0..2] = s[1..3];
    assert(a == [2, 0]);

### Overlapping Copying

Overlapping copies are an error:

    int[3] s;

    s[0..2] = s[1..3]; // error, overlapping copy
    s[1..3] = s[0..2]; // error, overlapping copy

Disallowing overlapping makes it possible for more aggressive parallel code optimizations than possible with the serial semantics of C.

If overlapping is required, use std.algorithm.mutation.copy:

    import std.algorithm;
    int[] s = [1, 2, 3, 4];

    copy(s[1..3], s[0..2]);
    assert(s == [2, 3, 3, 4]);

## Array Setting

If a slice operator appears as the left-hand side of an assignment expression, and the type of the right-hand side is the same as the element type of the left-hand side, then the array contents of the left-hand side are set to the right-hand side.

    int[3] s;
    int[] a;
    int* p;

    s[] = 3;
    assert(s == [3, 3, 3]);

    a = s;
    a[] = 1;
    assert(s == [1, 1, 1]);

    p = s.ptr;
    p[0..2] = 2;
    assert(s == [2, 2, 1]);

## Array Concatenation

The binary operator ~ is the cat operator. It is used to concatenate arrays:

    int[] a = [1, 2];
    assert(a ~ 3 == [1, 2, 3]); // concatenate array with a single value

    int[] b = a ~ [3, 4];
    assert(b == [1, 2, 3, 4]); // concatenate two arrays

Many languages overload the + operator for concatenation. This confusingly leads to a dilemma - does:

    "10" + 3 + 4

produce the number 17, the string "1034" or the string "107" as the result? It isn't obvious, and the language designers wind up carefully writing rules to disambiguate it - rules that get incorrectly implemented, overlooked, forgotten, and ignored. It's much better to have + mean addition, and a separate operator to be array concatenation.

Concatenation always creates a copy of its operands, even if one of the operands is a 0 length array, so:

    auto b = [7];
    auto a = b;      // a refers to b
    assert(a is b);

    a = b ~ []; // a refers to a copy of b
    assert(a !is b);
    assert(a == b);

See also: is operator.

## Array Appending

Similarly, the ~= operator means append, as in:

    a ~= b; // a becomes the concatenation of a and b

Appending does not always create a copy, see setting dynamic array length for details.

## Array Operations

Many array operations, also known as vector operations, can be expressed at a high level rather than as a loop. For example, the loop:

    T[] a, b;
    ...
    for (size_t i = 0; i < a.length; i++)
        a[i] = b[i] + 4;

assigns to the elements of a the elements of b with 4 added to each. This can also be expressed in vector notation as:

    T[] a, b;
    ...
    a[] = b[] + 4;

A vector operation is indicated by the slice operator appearing as the left-hand side of an assignment or an op-assignment expression. The right-hand side can be an expression consisting either of an array slice of the same length and type as the left-hand side or a scalar expression of the element type of the left-hand side, in any combination.

    T[] a, b, c;
    ...
    a[] -= (b[] + 4) * c[];

The slice on the left and any slices on the right must not overlap. All operands are evaluated exactly once, even if the array slice has zero elements in it.

The order in which the array elements are computed is implementation defined, and may even occur in parallel. An application must not depend on this order.

Implementation note: Many vector operations are expected to take advantage of any vector math instructions available on the target computer.

## Rectangular Arrays

Experienced FORTRAN numerics programmers know that multidimensional "rectangular" arrays for things like matrix operations are much faster than trying to access them via pointers to pointers resulting from "array of pointers to array" semantics. For example, the D syntax:

    double[][] matrix;

declares matrix as an array of pointers to arrays. (Dynamic arrays are implemented as pointers to the array data.) Since the arrays can have varying sizes (being dynamically sized), this is sometimes called "jagged" arrays. Even worse for optimizing the code, the array rows can sometimes point to each other! Fortunately, D static arrays, while using the same syntax, are implemented as a fixed rectangular layout in a contiguous block of memory:

    double[6][3] matrix = 0; // Sets all elements to 0.
    writeln(matrix); // [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

Note that dimensions and indices appear in opposite orders. Dimensions in the declaration are read right to left whereas indices are read left to right:

    double[6][3] matrix = 0;
    matrix[2][5] = 3.14; // Assignment to bottom right element.
    writeln(matrix); // [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3.14]]

    static assert(!__traits(compiles, matrix[5][2])); // Array index out of bounds.

More information can be found at Dlang Wiki - Dense Multidimensional Arrays.

## Array Properties

Static array properties are:

Static Array Properties
Property | Description
--- | ---
.init | Returns an array literal with each element of the literal being the .init property of the array element type.
.sizeof | Returns the array length multiplied by the number of bytes per array element.
.length | Returns the number of elements in the array. This is a fixed quantity for static arrays. It is of type size_t.
.ptr | Returns a pointer to the first element of the array.
.dup | Create a dynamic array of the same size and copy the contents of the array into it. The copy will have any immutability or const stripped. If this conversion is invalid the call will not compile.
.idup | Create a dynamic array of the same size and copy the contents of the array into it. The copy is typed as being immutable. If this conversion is invalid the call will not compile.

.tupleof

Returns an lvalue sequence of each element in the array:

    void foo(int, int, int) { /* ... */ }

    int[3] ia = [1, 2, 3];
    foo(ia.tupleof); // same as `foo(1, 2, 3);`

    float[3] fa;
    //fa = ia; // error
    fa.tupleof = ia.tupleof;
    assert(fa == [1F, 2F, 3F]);

Dynamic array properties are:

Dynamic Array Properties
Property | Description
--- | ---
.init | Returns null.
.sizeof | Returns the size of the dynamic array reference, which is 8 in 32-bit builds and 16 on 64-bit builds.
.length | Get/set number of elements in the array. It is of type size_t.
.capacity | Returns the number of elements that can be appended to the array without reallocating. See here for details.
.ptr | Returns a pointer to the first element of the array.
.dup | Create a dynamic array of the same size and copy the contents of the array into it. The copy will have any immutability or const stripped. If this conversion is invalid the call will not compile.
.idup | Create a dynamic array of the same size and copy the contents of the array into it. The copy is typed as being immutable. If this conversion is invalid the call will not compile.

Examples:

    int* p;
    int[3] s;
    int[] a;

    p.length; // error, length not known for pointer
    s.length; // compile time constant 3
    a.length; // runtime value

    p.dup;    // error, length not known
    s.dup;    // creates an array of 3 elements, copies
              // elements of s into it
    a.dup;    // creates an array of a.length elements, copies
              // elements of a into it

### Setting Dynamic Array Length

The .length property of a dynamic array can be set as the left-hand side of an = operator:

    array.length = 7;

This causes the array to be reallocated in place, and the existing contents copied over to the new array. If the new array length is shorter, the array is not reallocated, and no data is copied. It is equivalent to slicing the array:

    array = array[0..7];

If the new array length is longer, the array is reallocated if necessary, preserving the existing elements. The new elements are filled out with the default initializer.

#### Growing an Array

To maximize efficiency, the runtime always tries to resize the array in place to avoid extra copying. It will do a copy if the new size is larger and either:

- The array was not allocated by the GC.
- There is no spare capacity for the array.
- Resizing in place would overwrite valid data still accessible in another slice.

    char[] a = new char[20];
    char[] b = a[0..10];
    char[] c = a[10..20];
    char[] d = a;

    b.length = 15; // always reallocates because extending in place would
                   // overwrite other data in a.
    b[11] = 'x';   // a[11] and c[1] are not affected
    assert(a[11] == char.init);

    d.length = 1;
    assert(d.ptr == a.ptr); // unchanged

    d.length = 20; // also reallocates, because doing this will overwrite a and c
    assert(d.ptr != a.ptr);

    c.length = 12; // may reallocate in place if space allows, because nothing
                   // was allocated after c.
    c[5] = 'y';    // may affect contents of a, but not b or d because those
                   // were reallocated.

    a.length = 25; // This always reallocates because if c extended in place,
                   // then extending a would overwrite c.  If c didn't
                   // reallocate in place, it means there was not enough space,
                   // which will still be true for a.
    a[15] = 'z';   // does not affect c, because either a or c has reallocated.

To guarantee copying behavior, use the .dup property to ensure a unique array that can be resized.

Note: These issues also apply to appending arrays with the ~= operator. Concatenation using the ~ operator is not affected since it always reallocates.

Resizing a dynamic array is a relatively expensive operation. So, while the following method of filling an array:

    int[] array;
    while (1)
    {
        import core.stdc.stdio : getchar;
        auto c = getchar;
        if (!c)
            break;
        ++array.length;
        array[array.length - 1] = c;
    }

will work, it will be inefficient. A more practical approach would be to minimize the number of resizes:

    int[] array;
    array.length = 100;        // guess
    int i;
    for (i = 0; ; i++)
    {
        import core.stdc.stdio : getchar;
        auto c = getchar;
        if (!c)
            break;
        if (i == array.length)
            array.length *= 2;
        array[i] = c;
    }
    array.length = i;

Base selection of the initial size on expected common use cases, which can be determined by instrumenting the code, or simply using good judgement. For example, when gathering user input from the console - it's unlikely to be longer than 80.

### capacity and reserve

The capacity property gives the maximum length a dynamic array can grow to without reallocating. If the array does not point to GC-allocated memory, the capacity will be zero. The spare capacity for an array a is a.capacity - a.length.

By default, capacity will be zero if an element has been stored after the slice.

    int[] a;
    assert(a.capacity == 0);
    a.length = 3; // may allocate spare capacity too
    assert(a.capacity >= 3);
    auto b = a[1..3];
    assert(b.capacity >= 2); // either a or b can append into any spare capacity
    b = a[0..2];
    assert(b.capacity == 0);

Rationale: This behaviour helps prevent accidental overwriting of elements in another slice. It is also necessary to protect immutable elements from being overwritten.

The reserve function expands an array's capacity for use by the append operator or .length assignment.

    int[] array;
    const size_t cap = array.reserve(10); // request
    assert(cap >= 10); // allocated may be more than request
    assert(array.ptr != null);

    int[] copy = array;
    assert(copy.capacity == cap); // array and copy have same capacity
    array ~= [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]; // grow in place
    assert(cap == array.capacity); // array memory was not reallocated
    assert(copy.ptr == array.ptr);
    assert(copy.capacity == 0);
    copy ~= 0; // new allocation
    assert(copy.ptr != array.ptr);

Above, copy's length remains zero but it points to the same memory allocated by the reserve call. Because array is then appended to, copy.ptr + 0 no longer points to unused memory - instead that is the address of array[0]. So copy.capacity will be zero to prevent any appending to copy from overwriting elements in array.

Note: The runtime uses the number of appended elements to track the start of the spare capacity for the memory allocation.

When an array with spare capacity has its length reduced, or is assigned a slice of itself that ends before the previous last element, the capacity will be zero.

The @system function assumeSafeAppend allows the capacity to be regained, but care must be taken not to overwrite immutable elements that may exist in a longer slice.

    int[] a = [1, 2, 3];
    a.length--;
    assert(a.capacity == 0);
    a.assumeSafeAppend();
    assert(a.capacity >= 3);

Note: Accessing .capacity may require the runtime to acquire a global lock and perform a cache lookup.
Best Practices: Avoid intensive use of .capacity in performance-sensitive code. Instead, track the capacity locally when building an array via a unique reference.

### Functions as Array Properties

See Uniform Function Call Syntax (UFCS).

## Array Bounds Checking

It is an error to index an array with an index that is less than 0 or greater than or equal to the array length. If an index is out of bounds, an ArrayIndexError is thrown if detected at runtime, and an error is raised if detected at compile time. A program may not rely on array bounds checking happening, for example, the following program is incorrect:

    import core.exception;
    try
    {
        auto array = [1, 2];
        for (auto i = 0; ; i++)
        {
            array[i] = 5;
        }
    }
    catch (ArrayIndexError)
    {
        // terminate loop
    }

The loop is correctly written:

    auto array = [1, 2];
    for (auto i = 0; i < array.length; i++)
    {
        array[i] = 5;
    }

Implementation Note: Compilers should attempt to detect array bounds errors at compile time, for example:

    int[3] foo;
    int x = foo[3]; // error, out of bounds

Insertion of array bounds checking code at runtime should be turned on and off with a compile time switch.

Undefined Behavior: An out of bounds memory access will cause undefined behavior, therefore array bounds check is normally enabled in @safe functions. The runtime behavior is part of the language semantics.

See also Safe Functions.

### Disabling Array Bounds Checking

Insertion of array bounds checking code at runtime may be turned off with a compiler switch -boundscheck.

If the bounds check in @system or @trusted code is disabled, the code correctness must still be guaranteed by the code author.

On the other hand, disabling the bounds check in @safe code will break the guaranteed memory safety by compiler. It's not recommended unless motivated by speed measurements.

## Array Initialization

### Default Initialization

- Pointers are initialized to null.
- Static array contents are initialized to the default initializer for the array element type.
- Dynamic arrays are initialized to having 0 elements.
- Associative arrays are initialized to having 0 elements.

### Length Initialization

The new expression can be used to start a dynamic array with a specified length by specifying its type and then using the (size) syntax:

    int[] i = new int[](5); //i.length == 5
    int[][] j = new int[][](10, 5); //j.length == 10, j[0].length == 5

### Void Initialization

Void initialization happens when the Initializer for an array is void. What it means is that no initialization is done, i.e. the contents of the array will be undefined. This is most useful as an efficiency optimization. Void initializations are an advanced technique and should only be used when profiling indicates that it matters.

To void initialise the elements of a dynamic array use std.array.uninitializedArray.

### Static Initialization of Statically Allocated Arrays

Static initalizations are supplied by a list of array element values enclosed in [ ]. The values can be optionally preceded by an index and a :. If an index is not supplied, it is set to the previous index plus 1, or 0 if it is the first value.

    int[3] a = [ 1:2, 3 ]; // a[0] = 0, a[1] = 2, a[2] = 3

    assert(a == [0, 2, 3]);

This is most handy when the array indices are given by enums:

    enum Color { red, blue, green }

    int[Color.max + 1] value =
      [ Color.blue :6,
        Color.green:2,
        Color.red  :5 ];

    assert(value == [5, 6, 2]);

These arrays are statically allocated when they appear in global scope. Otherwise, they need to be marked with const or static storage classes to make them statically allocated arrays.

## Special Array Types

### Strings

A string is an array of characters. String literals are just an easy way to write character arrays. String literals are immutable (read only).

    char[] str1 = "abc";                // error, "abc" is not mutable
    char[] str2 = "abc".dup;            // ok, make mutable copy
    immutable(char)[] str3 = "abc";     // ok
    immutable(char)[] str4 = str1;      // error, str4 is not mutable
    immutable(char)[] str5 = str1.idup; // ok, make immutable copy

The name string is aliased to immutable(char)[], so the above declarations could be equivalently written as:

    char[] str1 = "abc";     // error, "abc" is not mutable
    char[] str2 = "abc".dup; // ok, make mutable copy
    string str3 = "abc";     // ok
    string str4 = str1;      // error, str4 is not mutable
    string str5 = str1.idup; // ok, make immutable copy

char[] strings are in UTF-8 format. wchar[] strings are in UTF-16 format. dchar[] strings are in UTF-32 format.

Strings can be copied, compared, concatenated, and appended:

    str1 = str2;
    if (str1 < str3) { ... }
    func(str3 ~ str4);
    str4 ~= str1;

with the obvious semantics. Any generated temporaries get cleaned up by the garbage collector (or by using alloca()). Not only that, this works with any array not just a special String array.

A pointer to a char can be generated:

    char* p = &str[3]; // pointer to 4th element
    char* p = str;     // pointer to 1st element

Since strings, however, are not 0 terminated in D, when transferring a pointer to a string to C, add a terminating 0:

    str ~= "\0";

or use the function std.string.toStringz.

The type of a string is determined by the semantic phase of compilation. The type is one of: char[], wchar[], dchar[], and is determined by implicit conversion rules. If there are two equally applicable implicit conversions, the result is an error. To disambiguate these cases, a cast or a postfix of c, w or d can be used:

    cast(immutable(wchar) [])"abc" // this is an array of wchar characters
    "abc"w                         // so is this

String literals that do not have a postfix character and that have not been cast can be implicitly converted between string, wstring, and dstring as necessary.

    char c;
    wchar w;
    dchar d;

    c = 'b';     // c is assigned the character 'b'
    w = 'b';     // w is assigned the wchar character 'b'
    //w = 'bc';  // error - only one wchar character at a time
    w = "b"[0];  // w is assigned the wchar character 'b'
    w = "\r"[0]; // w is assigned the carriage return wchar character
    d = 'd';     // d is assigned the character 'd'

#### Strings and Unicode

Note that built-in comparison operators operate on a code unit basis. The end result for valid strings is the same as that of code point for code point comparison as long as both strings are in the same normalization form. Since normalization is a costly operation not suitable for language primitives it's assumed to be enforced by the user.

The standard library lends a hand for comparing strings with mixed encodings (by transparently decoding, see std.algorithm.cmp), case-insensitive comparison and normalization.

Last but not least, a desired string sorting order differs by culture and language and is usually nothing like code point for code point comparison. The natural order of strings is obtained by applying the Unicode collation algorithm that should be implemented in the standard library.

#### C's printf() and Strings

printf() is a C function and is not part of D. printf() will print C strings, which are 0 terminated. There are two ways to use printf() with D strings. The first is to add a terminating 0, and cast the result to a char*:

    str ~= "\0";
    printf("the string is '%s'\n", str.ptr);

or:

    import std.string;
    printf("the string is '%s'\n", std.string.toStringz(str));

String literals already have a 0 appended to them, so can be used directly:

    printf("the string is '%s'\n", "string literal".ptr);

So, why does the first string literal to printf not need the .ptr? The first parameter is prototyped as a const(char)*, and a string literal can be implicitly cast to a const(char)*. The rest of the arguments to printf, however, are variadic (specified by ...), and a string literal typed immutable(char)[] cannot pass to variadic parameters.

The second way is to use the precision specifier. The length comes first, followed by the pointer:

    printf("the string is '%.*s'\n", str.length, str.ptr);

The best way is to use std.stdio.writefln, which can handle D strings:

    import std.stdio;
    writefln("the string is '%s'", str);

### Void Arrays

There is a special type of array which acts as a wildcard that can hold arrays of any kind, declared as void[]. Void arrays are used for low-level operations where some kind of array data is being handled, but the exact type of the array elements are unimportant. The .length of a void array is the length of the data in bytes, rather than the number of elements in its original type. Array indices in indexing and slicing operations are interpreted as byte indices.

Arrays of any type can be implicitly converted to a void array; the compiler inserts the appropriate calculations so that the .length of the resulting array's size is in bytes rather than number of elements. Void arrays cannot be converted back to the original type without using a cast, and it is an error to convert to an array type whose element size does not evenly divide the length of the void array.

    void main()
    {
        int[] data1 = [1,2,3];
        long[] data2;

        void[] arr = data1;            // OK, int[] implicit converts to void[].
        assert(data1.length == 3);
        assert(arr.length == 12);      // length is implicitly converted to bytes.

        //data1 = arr;                 // Illegal: void[] does not implicitly
                                       // convert to int[].
        int[] data3 = cast(int[]) arr; // OK, can convert with explicit cast.
        data2 = cast(long[]) arr;      // Runtime error: long.sizeof == 8, which
                                       // does not divide arr.length, which is 12
                                       // bytes.
    }

Void arrays can also be static if their length is known at compile-time. The length is specified in bytes:

    void main()
    {
        byte[2] x;
        int[2] y;

        void[2] a = x; // OK, lengths match
        void[2] b = y; // Error: int[2] is 8 bytes long, doesn't fit in 2 bytes.
    }

While it may seem that void arrays are just fancy syntax for ubyte[], there is a subtle distinction. The garbage collector generally will not scan ubyte[] arrays for pointers, ubyte[] being presumed to contain only pure byte data, not pointers. However, it will scan void[] arrays for pointers, since such an array may have been implicitly converted from an array of pointers or an array of elements that contain pointers. Allocating an array that contains pointers as ubyte[] may run the risk of the GC collecting live memory if these pointers are the only remaining references to their targets.

## Implicit Conversions

A pointer T* can be implicitly converted to one of the following:

- void*

A static array T[dim] can be implicitly converted to one of the following:

- T[]
- const(U)[]
- const(U[])
- void[]

A dynamic array T[] can be implicitly converted to one of the following (U is a base class of T):

- const(U)[]
- const(U[])
- void[]

Array literals can also be implicitly converted to static array types. See Array Literals for details.

String literals can also be implicitly converted to static array types and character pointer types. See String Literals for details.

Statements
Associative Arrays
Copyright © 1999-2023 by the D Language Foundation | Page generated by Ddoc on Mon Feb 13 00:09:31 2023