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Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question.

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On 2025-05-31, Mack The Knife <mack@the-knife.org> wrote:
> In article <101f9oo$18edp$1@dont-email.me>,
> Janis Papanagnou  <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>In the context   p=index(substr(t,s),r)
>>it would not be necessary to copy the substr(t,s),
>>the index() function could operate on the original
>>using some access "descriptor" (say, a pointer and
>>a length) in read-only mode.
>>
>>Will (GNU) Awk do a copy of the data value or does
>>it use a read-only descriptor access to the already
>>existing substring of variable "t"?
>>
>>Currently I'm playing with some huge data and copies
>>of MB sized data is costly (if it's repeatedly done
>>with various substr() subscripts).
>
> substr() makes a copy. This is clear in the code.
>
> It's almost impossible to do this via read-only descriptor.

It's entirely possible, with just reference counted memory management.
Under the hood, you have two kinds of string types: primary strings, and
strings which are views displaced into other strings. The displacing
strings own a reference count on the target string, and indicate the
offset and range.

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substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-05-31 18:12 +0200
  Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. mack@the-knife.org (Mack The Knife) - 2025-05-31 19:07 +0000
    Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-01 00:16 +0200
      Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Ben Bacarisse <ben@bsb.me.uk> - 2025-06-01 11:42 +0100
        Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-01 13:43 +0200
          Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2025-06-01 12:06 +0000
            Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-01 15:27 +0200
        Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2025-06-01 11:53 +0000
          Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-01 15:47 +0200
            Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2025-06-01 14:17 +0000
              Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-08 00:01 +0200
      Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. mack@the-knife.org (Mack The Knife) - 2025-06-03 06:56 +0000
        Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2025-06-03 11:04 +0000
        Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-08 00:05 +0200
          Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. mack@the-knife.org (Mack The Knife) - 2025-06-08 12:35 +0000
            Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Janis Papanagnou <janis_papanagnou+ng@hotmail.com> - 2025-06-11 11:07 +0200
              Meta chat (Was: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question.) gazelle@shell.xmission.com (Kenny McCormack) - 2025-06-11 12:11 +0000
    Re: substr() - copying or not copying, that is here the question. Kaz Kylheku <643-408-1753@kylheku.com> - 2025-06-01 00:01 +0000

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