Deepcopy: Difference between revisions
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=={{header|C++}}== |
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In C++ a type defines its own copy semantics. The standard containers copy all of their elements by value |
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including elements that are complex or are themselves containers. However if the container contains pointers, the |
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pointers themselves are copied and will continue to point to the original elements. The example below does not use |
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any pointers. |
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<lang cpp> |
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#include <array> |
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#include <iostream> |
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#include <list> |
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#include <map> |
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#include <vector> |
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int main() |
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{ |
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// make a nested structure to copy - a map of arrays containing vectors of strings |
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auto myNumbers = std::vector<std::string>{"one", "two", "three", "four"}; |
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auto myColors = std::vector<std::string>{"red", "green", "blue"}; |
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auto myArray = std::array<std::vector<std::string>, 2>{myNumbers, myColors}; |
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auto myMap = std::map<int, decltype(myArray)> {{3, myArray}, {7, myArray}}; |
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// make a deep copy of the map |
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auto mapCopy = myMap; |
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// modify the copy |
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mapCopy[3][0][1] = "2"; |
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mapCopy[7][1][2] = "purple"; |
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std::cout << "the original values:\n"; |
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std::cout << myMap[3][0][1] << "\n"; |
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std::cout << myMap[7][1][2] << "\n\n"; |
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std::cout << "the modified copy:\n"; |
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std::cout << mapCopy[3][0][1] << "\n"; |
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std::cout << mapCopy[7][1][2] << "\n"; |
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}</lang> |
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{{out}} |
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<pre>the original values: |
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two |
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blue |
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the modified copy: |
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2 |
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purple |
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</pre> |
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=={{header|Common Lisp}}== |
=={{header|Common Lisp}}== |
Revision as of 21:30, 3 January 2021
You are encouraged to solve this task according to the task description, using any language you may know.
- Task
Demonstrate how to copy data structures containing complex heterogeneous and cyclic semantics.
This is often referred to as deep copying, and is normally required where structures are mutable and to ensure that independent copies can be manipulated without side-effects.
If this facility is not built into the language, it is permissible to use functions from a common library, or a coded procedure.
The task should show:
- Relevant semantics of structures, such as their homogeneous or heterogeneous properties, or containment of (self- or mutual-reference) cycles.
- Any limitations of the method.
- That the structure and its copy are different.
- Suitable links to external documentation for common libraries.
Aime
<lang aime>list L1, L2;
- Lists are heterogeneous:
l_append(L1, 3); l_append(L1, "deep");
- and may contain self references.
- A self references in the last position:
l_link(L1, -1, L1);
- List may also contain mutual references.
- Create a new list in the last position:
l_n_list(L1, -1);
- Add a reference to the top level list to the nested list:
l_link(l_q_list(L1, -1), -1, L1);
- There are no limitations to the deep copy method:
l_copy(L2, L1);
- Modify the string in the original list,
- via the self reference in the 3rd position
l_r_text(l_q_list(L1, 2), 1, "copy");
- Show the string in the two lists:
o_text(l_query(L2, 1)); o_text(l_query(L1, 1)); o_byte('\n');
- And again, via the included self references:
o_text(l_query(l_query(L2, 2), 1)); o_text(l_query(l_query(L1, 2), 1)); o_byte('\n');</lang>
- Output:
deepcopy deepcopy
AutoHotkey
http://www.autohotkey.com/board/topic/85201-array-deep-copy-treeview-viewer-and-more/ <lang autohotkey>DeepCopy(Array, Objs=0) {
If !Objs Objs := Object() Obj := Array.Clone() ; produces a shallow copy in that any sub-objects are not cloned Objs[&Array] := Obj ; Save this new array - & returns the address of Array in memory For Key, Val in Obj If (IsObject(Val)) ; If it is a subarray Obj[Key] := Objs[&Val] ; If we already know of a reference to this array ? Objs[&Val] ; Then point it to the new array (to prevent infinite recursion on self-references : DeepCopy(Val,Objs) ; Otherwise, clone this sub-array Return Obj
}</lang>
Babel
Any pure Babel object, however complex, can be deep-copied with the cp operator. By contrast, the dup operator makes a shallow copy of any object (duplicates the reference on top-of-stack). In the examples below, the sd utility is the "stack dump" and shows the Babel stack.
Here is an example of shallow-copy - modifying one object modifies both because they are really just references to one underlying object:
<lang babel>babel> [1 2 3] dup dup 0 7 0 1 move sd ! ---TOS--- [val 0x7 0x2 0x3 ] [val 0x7 0x2 0x3 ] ---BOS---</lang>
Deep-copy is proved by the ability to separately modify two objects:
<lang babel>babel> clear [1 2 3] dup cp dup 0 7 0 1 move sd ! ---TOS--- [val 0x7 0x2 0x3 ] [val 0x1 0x2 0x3 ] ---BOS---</lang>
You can deep-copy any pure-Babel object with cp. Here is a list-of-lists, we copy it using cp:
<lang babel>babel> ((1 2) (3 4) (5 6)) cp babel> {lsnum !} each ( 1 2 ) ( 3 4 ) ( 5 6 )</lang>
Here is a list-of-maps, we copy it using cp:
<lang babel>babel> ([map "foo" 3 "bar" 17] [map "foo" 4 "bar" 18] [map "foo" 5 "bar" 19] [map "foo" 0 "bar" 20]) cp babel> 2 ith "bar" lumap ! itod say ! 19</lang>
Here is Babel code, we copy it using cp:
<lang babel>babel> { { 1 randlf 100 rem itod << " " << } 20 times } cp babel> eval 86 51 50 43 82 76 13 78 33 45 11 35 84 25 80 36 33 81 43 24</lang>
C
Structures without pointers
Structures without pointers can be copied like standard C variables such as int, float, char etc. The level of nesting is irrelevant. As the following implementation shows, a simple assignment is enough : <lang C>
- include<stdio.h>
typedef struct{ int a; }layer1;
typedef struct{ layer1 l1; float b,c; }layer2;
typedef struct{ layer2 l2; layer1 l1; int d,e; }layer3;
void showCake(layer3 cake){ printf("\ncake.d = %d",cake.d); printf("\ncake.e = %d",cake.e); printf("\ncake.l1.a = %d",cake.l1.a); printf("\ncake.l2.b = %f",cake.l2.b); printf("\ncake.l2.l1.a = %d",cake.l2.l1.a); }
int main() { layer3 cake1,cake2;
cake1.d = 1; cake1.e = 2; cake1.l1.a = 3; cake1.l2.b = 4; cake1.l2.l1.a = 5;
printf("Cake 1 is : "); showCake(cake1);
cake2 = cake1;
cake2.l2.b += cake2.l2.l1.a;
printf("\nCake 2 is : "); showCake(cake2);
return 0; } </lang> Output:
Cake 1 is : cake.d = 1 cake.e = 2 cake.l1.a = 3 cake.l2.b = 4.000000 cake.l2.l1.a = 5 Cake 2 is : cake.d = 1 cake.e = 2 cake.l1.a = 3 cake.l2.b = 9.000000 cake.l2.l1.a = 5
Structures with pointers
Structures with pointers which are usually used to represent data structures such as Linked lists, Stacks, Trees, Graphs etc. have to be copied element by element. A simple assignment as in the above example will not be a copy at all. It will be two pointers pointing towards the same memory location. <lang C>
- include<stdlib.h>
- include<stdio.h>
typedef struct elem{ int data; struct elem* next; }cell;
typedef cell* list;
void addToList(list *a,int num){ list temp, holder;
if(*a==NULL){ *a = (list)malloc(sizeof(cell)); (*a)->data = num; (*a)->next = NULL; } else{ temp = *a;
while(temp->next!=NULL) temp = temp->next;
holder = (list)malloc(sizeof(cell)); holder->data = num; holder->next = NULL;
temp->next = holder; } }
list copyList(list a){ list b, tempA, tempB, temp;
if(a!=NULL){ b = (list)malloc(sizeof(cell)); b->data = a->data; b->next = NULL;
tempA = a->next; tempB = b;
while(tempA!=NULL){ temp = (list)malloc(sizeof(cell)); temp->data = tempA->data; temp->next = NULL;
tempB->next = temp; tempB = temp;
tempA = tempA->next; } }
return b; }
void printList(list a){ list temp = a;
while(temp!=NULL){ printf("%d,",temp->data); temp = temp->next; } printf("\b"); }
int main() { list a,b; int i;
for(i=1;i<=5;i++) addToList(&a,i);
printf("List a is : ");
printList(a);
b = copyList(a);
free(a);
printf("\nList a destroyed, List b is : ");
printList(b);
return 0; } </lang> Output:
List a is : 1,2,3,4,5, List a destroyed, List b is : 1,2,3,4,5,
C#
<lang csharp>using System;
namespace prog { class MainClass { class MyClass : ICloneable { public MyClass() { f = new int[3]{2,3,5}; c = '1'; }
public object Clone() { MyClass cpy = (MyClass) this.MemberwiseClone(); cpy.f = (int[]) this.f.Clone(); return cpy; }
public char c; public int[] f; }
public static void Main( string[] args ) { MyClass c1 = new MyClass(); MyClass c2 = (MyClass) c1.Clone(); } } }</lang>
C++
In C++ a type defines its own copy semantics. The standard containers copy all of their elements by value including elements that are complex or are themselves containers. However if the container contains pointers, the pointers themselves are copied and will continue to point to the original elements. The example below does not use any pointers.
<lang cpp>
- include <array>
- include <iostream>
- include <list>
- include <map>
- include <vector>
int main() {
// make a nested structure to copy - a map of arrays containing vectors of strings auto myNumbers = std::vector<std::string>{"one", "two", "three", "four"}; auto myColors = std::vector<std::string>{"red", "green", "blue"}; auto myArray = std::array<std::vector<std::string>, 2>{myNumbers, myColors}; auto myMap = std::map<int, decltype(myArray)> {{3, myArray}, {7, myArray}};
// make a deep copy of the map auto mapCopy = myMap;
// modify the copy mapCopy[3][0][1] = "2"; mapCopy[7][1][2] = "purple"; std::cout << "the original values:\n"; std::cout << myMap[3][0][1] << "\n"; std::cout << myMap[7][1][2] << "\n\n";
std::cout << "the modified copy:\n"; std::cout << mapCopy[3][0][1] << "\n"; std::cout << mapCopy[7][1][2] << "\n";
}</lang>
- Output:
the original values: two blue the modified copy: 2 purple
Common Lisp
Numerous approaches can be demonstrated here. Here is a quick and dirty way to copy circular structure.
Common Lisp has a printed notation which preserves circularity and shared substructure. This way of printing is in effect when the dynamic variable *print-circle*
is set true.
We can copy a structure by printing it this way to a string and then reading the resulting string back to data.
The circular notation consists of the two elements #num= obj
and #<num>#
.
For instance #42=(a b)
denotes the list (a b)
and furthermore, it associates it with the number 42. Then, later in the same form, #42# denotes an additional occurence of the same (a b)
object. So for instance, a cons cell whose car
is 1, and whose cdr
points back to that cons cell is written #1=(1 . #1#)
.
<lang lisp>$ clisp -q [1]> (setf *print-circle* t) T [2]> (let ((a (cons 1 nil))) (setf (cdr a) a)) ;; create circular list
- 1=(1 . #1#)
[3]> (read-from-string "#1=(1 . #1#)") ;; read it from a string
- 1=(1 . #1#) ;; a similar circular list is returned</lang>
Déjà Vu
<lang dejavu>local :(copy-action) {}
(copy-action)!list obj cache: local :new [] set-to cache obj new for i range 0 -- len obj: push-to new (deepcopy) @obj! i cache return new
(copy-action)!dict obj cache: local :new {} set-to cache obj new for key in keys obj: set-to new (deepcopy) @key cache (deepcopy) @obj! @key cache return new
labda obj cache: set-to cache @obj dup copy @obj set-default (copy-action)
(deepcopy) obj cache: if has cache obj: return @cache! @obj (copy-action)! type @obj @obj cache
deepcopy obj: (deepcopy) obj {}
- example usage:
- a reasonably complicated object:
set :A { :foo [ "bar" ] [] [ & 1 2 & 3 4 ] } set :B deepcopy A
!. A !. B
push-to get-from B :foo "HODOR"
!. A !. B
- it works with cycles:
set :C push-through dup [] set :D deepcopy C
!. C !. D
push-to C 7
!. C !. D</lang>
- Output:
{ :foo [ "bar" ] [ ] [ & 1 2 & 3 4 ] } { [ ] [ & 1 2 & 3 4 ] :foo [ "bar" ] } { :foo [ "bar" ] [ ] [ & 1 2 & 3 4 ] } { [ ] [ & 1 2 & 3 4 ] :foo [ "bar" "HODOR" ] } [ [ [ [ [...] ] ] ] ] [ [ [ [ [...] ] ] ] ] [ [ [ [ [...] 7 ] 7 ] 7 ] 7 ] [ [ [ [ [...] ] ] ] ]
Delphi
<lang Delphi> program DeepCopyApp;
{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
uses
System.TypInfo;
type
TTypeA = record value1: integer; value2: char; value3: string[10]; value4: Boolean; function DeepCopy: TTypeA; end;
{ TTypeA }
function TTypeA.DeepCopy: TTypeA; begin
CopyRecord(@result, @self, TypeInfo(TTypeA));
end;
var
a, b: TTypeA;
begin
a.value1 := 10; a.value2 := 'A'; a.value3 := 'OK'; a.value4 := True;
b := a.DeepCopy; a.value1 := 20; a.value2 := 'B'; a.value3 := 'NOK'; a.value4 := False;
Writeln('Value of "a":'); Writeln(a.value1); Writeln(a.value2); Writeln(a.value3); Writeln(a.value4);
Writeln(#10'Value of "b":'); Writeln(b.value1); Writeln(b.value2); Writeln(b.value3); Writeln(b.value4); readln;
end.</lang>
- Output:
Value of "a": 20 B NOK FALSE Value of "b": 10 A OK TRUE
E
In E, serialization is generalized to transforming object graphs from one representation to another. Deep copying, therefore, consists of transforming a live object graph into a live object graph, by connecting deSubgraphKit
's output to its input. No intermediate serialized form is needed.
<lang e>def deSubgraphKit := <elib:serial.deSubgraphKit> def deepcopy(x) {
return deSubgraphKit.recognize(x, deSubgraphKit.makeBuilder())
}</lang>
As befits a serialization system, this deep copy may operate on any serializable structure, whether standard or user-defined, and the structure may contain cycles.
<lang e>? def x := ["a" => 1, "b" => [x].diverge()]
- value: ["a" => 1, "b" => [<***CYCLE***>].diverge()]
? def y := deepcopy(x)
- value: ["a" => 1, "b" => [<***CYCLE***>].diverge()]
? y["b"].push(2)
? y
- value: ["a" => 1, "b" => [<***CYCLE***>, 2].diverge()]
? x
- value: ["a" => 1, "b" => [<***CYCLE***>].diverge()]
? y["b"][0] == y
- value: true
? y["b"][0] == x
- value: false
? x["b"][0] == x
- value: true</lang>
(.diverge()
produces mutable data structures, and <***CYCLE***>
is what is printed when printing some object meets itself again.)
See also: Polymorphic copy#E
Erlang
Until somebody explains how to create cyclic data structures in Erlang I can show heterogeneous data.
- Output:
16> D. {dict,4,16,16,8,80,48, {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]}, {{[["qwe",49,50,51],[p|<0.32.0>]], [[a|b]], [],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[], [[1|2]], [],[],[],[]}}} [],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[], [[1|2]], [],[],[],[]}}} 17> D2 = D. 18> D2. {dict,4,16,16,8,80,48, {[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[]}, {{[["qwe",49,50,51],[p|<0.32.0>]], [[a|b]], [],[],[],[],[],[],[],[],[], [[1|2]], [],[],[],[]}}}
Factor
It's possible to create deep copies with [ clone ] deep-map
, though this suffers from the limitation that it will hang indefinitely on circularities. We can even do this with tuples, since named tuples allow tuples to be treated like arrays. The following is a demonstration of deep copying an object in this manner.
<lang factor>USING: accessors arrays io kernel named-tuples prettyprint sequences sequences.deep ;
! Define a simple class TUPLE: foo bar baz ;
! Allow instances of foo to be modified like an array INSTANCE: foo named-tuple
! Create a foo object composed of mutable objects V{ 1 2 3 } V{ 4 5 6 } [ clone ] bi@ foo boa
! create a copy of the reference to the object dup
! create a deep copy from this copy >array [ clone ] deep-map T{ foo } like
! print them both "Before modification:" print [ [ . ] bi@ ] 2keep nl
! modify the deep copy [ -1 suffix! ] change-bar
! print them both again "After modification:" print [ . ] bi@</lang>
- Output:
Before modification: T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } After modification: T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 -1 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } }
Another way to make deep copies is by serializing an object to a byte array and then deserializing it back to an object. This has the advantage of preserving circularities, but it doesn't work on non-serializable objects (such as continuations). <lang factor>! Create a foo object composed of mutable objects V{ 1 2 3 } V{ 4 5 6 } [ clone ] bi@ foo boa
! create a copy of the reference to the object dup
! create a deep copy from this copy object>bytes bytes>object
! print them both "Before modification:" print [ [ . ] bi@ ] 2keep nl
! modify the deep copy [ -99 suffix! ] change-bar
"After modification:" print [ . ] bi@</lang>
- Output:
Before modification: T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } After modification: T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } } T{ foo { bar V{ 1 2 3 -99 } } { baz V{ 4 5 6 } } }
Go
Go does not have direct support for deep copy. To make deep copies of specific data structures, it is most efficient to write your own copy function and just copy what needs to be copied.
Heterogeneous: <lang go>package main
import "fmt"
// a complex data structure type cds struct {
i int // no special handling needed for deep copy s string // no special handling b []byte // copied easily with append function m map[int]bool // deep copy requires looping
}
// a method func (c cds) deepcopy() *cds {
// copy what you can in one line r := &cds{c.i, c.s, append([]byte{}, c.b...), make(map[int]bool)} // populate map with a loop for k, v := range c.m { r.m[k] = v } return r
}
// demo func main() {
// create and populate a structure c1 := &cds{1, "one", []byte("unit"), map[int]bool{1: true}} fmt.Println(c1) // show it c2 := c1.deepcopy() // copy it fmt.Println(c2) // show copy c1.i = 0 // change original c1.s = "nil" copy(c1.b, "zero") c1.m[1] = false fmt.Println(c1) // show changes fmt.Println(c2) // show copy unaffected
}</lang> Output:
&{1 one [117 110 105 116] map[1:true]} &{1 one [117 110 105 116] map[1:true]} &{0 nil [122 101 114 111] map[1:false]} &{1 one [117 110 105 116] map[1:true]}
Cyclic:
DIY here requires you to code a traversal algorithm. <lang go>package main
import "fmt"
// a type that allows cyclic structures type node []*node
// recursively print the contents of a node func (n *node) list() {
if n == nil { fmt.Println(n) return } listed := map[*node]bool{nil: true} var r func(*node) r = func(n *node) { listed[n] = true fmt.Printf("%p -> %v\n", n, *n) for _, m := range *n { if !listed[m] { r(m) } } } r(n)
}
// construct a deep copy of a node func (n *node) ccopy() *node {
if n == nil { return n } cc := map[*node]*node{nil: nil} var r func(*node) *node r = func(n *node) *node { c := make(node, len(*n)) cc[n] = &c for i, m := range *n { d, ok := cc[m] if !ok { d = r(m) } c[i] = d } return &c } return r(n)
}
func main() {
a := node{nil} c := &node{&node{&a}} a[0] = c c.list() cc := c.ccopy() fmt.Println("copy:") cc.list() fmt.Println("original:") c.list()
}</lang>
- Output:
0xc42000a4a0 -> [0xc42000a4c0] 0xc42000a4c0 -> [0xc42000a480] 0xc42000a480 -> [0xc42000a4a0] copy: 0xc42000a580 -> [0xc42000a5a0] 0xc42000a5a0 -> [0xc42000a5c0] 0xc42000a5c0 -> [0xc42000a580] original: 0xc42000a4a0 -> [0xc42000a4c0] 0xc42000a4c0 -> [0xc42000a480] 0xc42000a480 -> [0xc42000a4a0]
General heterogeneous:
If you still want a generalized deep copy, one can be cobbled with an os.Pipe and the gob package, which does type safe serialization. The deepcopy function shown below works on arbitrary data with a few limitations. It handles data types with recursive or cyclic definitions, but does not handle cycles in the data itself. For example, it handles a linked list, but not a ring data structure. Another limitation is that struct fields must be exported. (That is, fields must start with an upper case letter. This makes the field visible outside the package.) <lang go>package main
import (
"encoding/gob" "fmt" "os"
)
// capability requested by task func deepcopy(dst, src interface{}) error {
r, w, err := os.Pipe() if err != nil { return err } enc := gob.NewEncoder(w) err = enc.Encode(src) if err != nil { return err } dec := gob.NewDecoder(r) return dec.Decode(dst)
}
// define linked list type, an example of a recursive type type link struct {
Value string Next *link
}
// method satisfies stringer interface for fmt.Println func (l *link) String() string {
if l == nil { return "nil" } s := "(" + l.Value for l = l.Next; l != nil; l = l.Next { s += " " + l.Value } return s + ")"
}
func main() {
// create a linked list with two elements l1 := &link{"a", &link{Value: "b"}} // print original fmt.Println(l1) // declare a variable to hold deep copy var l2 *link // copy if err := deepcopy(&l2, l1); err != nil { fmt.Println(err) return } // print copy fmt.Println(l2) // now change contents of original list l1.Value, l1.Next.Value = "c", "d" // show that it is changed fmt.Println(l1) // show that copy is unaffected fmt.Println(l2)
}</lang> Output:
(a b) (a b) (c d) (a b)
Icon and Unicon
Unicon and Icon support heterogeneous structures with loops. The Unicon book has an example of a simple algorithm for producing a deep copy of a structured value (set, list, table, or record); however, that code did not handle graph structures that are not trees. The code for deepcopy below from Unilib is a modification that addresses loops.
The code requires modification to run under Icon as Unicon extended key(X) to operate on lists and records not just tables.
<lang Unicon>procedure deepcopy(A, cache) #: return a deepcopy of A
local k
/cache := table() # used to handle multireferenced objects if \cache[A] then return cache[A]
case type(A) of { "table"|"list": { cache[A] := copy(A) every cache[A][k := key(A)] := deepcopy(A[k], cache) } "set": { cache[A] := set() every insert(cache[A], deepcopy(!A, cache)) } default: { # records and objects (encoded as records) cache[A] := copy(A) if match("record ",image(A)) then { every cache[A][k := key(A)] := deepcopy(A[k], cache) } } } return .cache[A]
end</lang>
The following code demonstrates deepcopy usage and that the resulting structure is different from the original by comparing assignment, copy, and deepcopy.
<lang Icon>link printf,ximage
procedure main()
knot := makeknot() # create a structure with loops knota := knot # copy by assignment (reference) knotc := copy(knot) # built-in copy (shallow) knotdc := deepcopy(knot) # deep copy
showdeep("knota (assignment) vs. knot",knota,knot) showdeep("knotc (copy) vs. knot",knotc,knot) showdeep("knotdc (deepcopy) vs. knot",knotdc,knot)
xdump("knot (original)",knot) xdump("knota (assignment)",knota) xdump("knotc (copy)",knotc) xdump("knotdc (deepcopy)",knotdc)
end
record rec1(a,b,c) # record for example
class Class1(a1,a2) # class - looks like a record under the covers
method one() self.a1 := 1 return end
initially
self.a1 := 0
end
procedure makeknot() #: return a homogeneous structure with loops
L := [9,8,7] T := table() T["a"] := 1 R := rec1(T) S := set(R) C := Class1() C.one() T["knot"] := [L,R,S,C] put(L,R,S,T,C) return L
end
procedure showdeep(tag,XC,X) #: demo to show (non-)equivalence of list elements
printf("Analysis of copy depth for %s:\n",tag) showequiv(XC,X) every showequiv(XC[i := 1 to *X],X[i])
end
procedure showequiv(x,y) #: show (non-)equivalence of two values
return printf(" %i %s %i\n",x,if x === y then "===" else "~===",y)
end</lang>
printf.icn provides printf ximage.icn provides xdump
The sample of output below compares all elements of a copy of a structure against the original. Immutable types like numbers, strings, and csets will show as the same (i.e. ===) and different mutable types will show as not the same (i.e. ~===). This clearly shows the difference between assignment, copy, and deepcopy.
Analysis of copy depth for knota (assignment) vs. knot: list_11(7) === list_11(7) 9 === 9 8 === 8 7 === 7 record rec1_2(3) === record rec1_2(3) set_2(1) === set_2(1) table_2(2) === table_2(2) record Class1__state_2(4) === record Class1__state_2(4) Analysis of copy depth for knotc (copy) vs. knot: list_13(7) ~=== list_11(7) 9 === 9 8 === 8 7 === 7 record rec1_2(3) === record rec1_2(3) set_2(1) === set_2(1) table_2(2) === table_2(2) record Class1__state_2(4) === record Class1__state_2(4) Analysis of copy depth for knotdc (deepcopy) vs. knot: list_14(7) ~=== list_11(7) 9 === 9 8 === 8 7 === 7 record rec1_3(3) ~=== record rec1_2(3) set_3(1) ~=== set_2(1) table_4(2) ~=== table_2(2) record Class1__state_3(4) ~=== record Class1__state_2(4) ...
Another way to show the difference in the structures is to use the xdump procedure will produce the following in stderr (&errout):
knot (original)" L11 := list(7) L11[1] := 9 L11[2] := 8 L11[3] := 7 L11[4] := R_rec1_2 := rec1() R_rec1_2.a := T2 := table(&null) T2["a"] := 1 T2["knot"] := L12 := list(4) L12[1] := L11 L12[2] := R_rec1_2 L12[3] := S2 := set() insert(S2,R_rec1_2) L12[4] := R_Class1__state_2 := Class1__state() R_Class1__state_2.a1 := 1 L11[5] := S2 L11[6] := T2 L11[7] := R_Class1__state_2 ...
J
J uses pass by value semantics (typically implemented as copy on write) so Deepcopy is trivial -- values inside the language are immutable.
<lang j> a=:b=: 2 2 2 2 2 NB. two copies of the same array
b=: 3 (2)} b NB. modify one of the arrays b
2 2 3 2 2
a
2 2 2 2 2</lang>
That said, J can reference values outside the language. But Deepcopy of those values is, by definition, outside the scope of the language. Usually, bringing the values into the language is sufficient.
Another possible exception would be classes and objects (which are not values but collections of references to values). But as a general rule copying of an object should be delegated to the object itself rather than imposed from the outside. Also, "deepcopy" violates the Law of Demeter as well as the concept of black-box reuse -- if you need deepcopy in J, you probably should not be representing your data structure as objects.
Java
Deep copy can be performed several ways.
- Immutable Objects. Do not perform the deep copy, use immutable objects. If an object is immutable, and hence unchangeable, then a deep copy is not needed. However, this task is about deep copy, so we will continue with the demonstration.
- Copy Constructor. Use a copy constructor to make a duplicate of the object. This is not a feature of Java, but a design pattern.
- Object Serialization. Java supports serialization of an object to a byte stream using the
Serializable
interface. However, there are security concerns with this methodology. See the various Internet articles. - Object Clone. Java supports cloning of an object using the
Cloneable
interface. As with serialization, there are security concerns with this methodology. See the various Internet articles.
Copy constructor, object serialization, and object clone are demonstrated below. <lang java> import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream; import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream; import java.io.ObjectInputStream; import java.io.ObjectOutputStream; import java.io.Serializable;
public class DeepCopy {
public static void main(String[] args) { Person p1 = new Person("Clark", "Kent", new Address("1 World Center", "Metropolis", "NY", "010101")); Person p2 = p1; System.out.printf("Demonstrate shallow copy. Both are the same object.%n"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); System.out.printf("Set city on person 2. City on both objects is changed.%n"); p2.getAddress().setCity("New York"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); p1 = new Person("Clark", "Kent", new Address("1 World Center", "Metropolis", "NY", "010101")); p2 = new Person(p1); System.out.printf("%nDemonstrate copy constructor. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1.%n"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); System.out.printf("Set city on person 2. City on objects is different.%n"); p2.getAddress().setCity("New York"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2);
p2 = (Person) deepCopy(p1); System.out.printf("%nDemonstrate serialization. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1.%n"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); System.out.printf("Set city on person 2. City on objects is different.%n"); p2.getAddress().setCity("New York"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); p2 = (Person) p1.clone(); System.out.printf("%nDemonstrate cloning. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1.%n"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); System.out.printf("Set city on person 2. City on objects is different.%n"); p2.getAddress().setCity("New York"); System.out.printf("Person p1 = %s%n", p1); System.out.printf("Person p2 = %s%n", p2); }
/** * Makes a deep copy of any Java object that is passed. */ private static Object deepCopy(Object object) { try { ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream(); ObjectOutputStream outputStrm = new ObjectOutputStream(outputStream); outputStrm.writeObject(object); ByteArrayInputStream inputStream = new ByteArrayInputStream(outputStream.toByteArray()); ObjectInputStream objInputStream = new ObjectInputStream(inputStream); return objInputStream.readObject(); } catch (Exception e) { e.printStackTrace(); return null; } } public static class Address implements Serializable, Cloneable {
private static final long serialVersionUID = -7073778041809445593L;
private String street; private String city; private String state; private String postalCode; public String getStreet() { return street; } public String getCity() { return city; } public void setCity(String city) { this.city = city; } public String getState() { return state; } public String getPostalCode() { return postalCode; } @Override public String toString() { return "[street=" + street + ", city=" + city + ", state=" + state + ", code=" + postalCode + "]"; } public Address(String s, String c, String st, String p) { street = s; city = c; state = st; postalCode = p; } // Copy constructor public Address(Address add) { street = add.street; city = add.city; state = add.state; postalCode = add.postalCode; } // Support Cloneable @Override public Object clone() { return new Address(this); } } public static class Person implements Serializable, Cloneable { private static final long serialVersionUID = -521810583786595050L; private String firstName; private String lastName; private Address address; public String getFirstName() { return firstName; } public String getLastName() { return lastName; } public Address getAddress() { return address; }
@Override public String toString() { return "[first name=" + firstName + ", last name=" + lastName + ", address=" + address + "]"; }
public Person(String fn, String ln, Address add) { firstName = fn; lastName = ln; address = add; } // Copy Constructor public Person(Person person) { firstName = person.firstName; lastName = person.lastName; address = new Address(person.address); // Invoke copy constructor of mutable sub-objects. } // Support Cloneable @Override public Object clone() { return new Person(this); } }
} </lang>
- Output:
Demonstrate shallow copy. Both are the same object. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Set city on person 2. City on both objects is changed. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=New York, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=New York, state=NY, code=010101]] Demonstrate copy constructor. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Set city on person 2. City on objects is different. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=New York, state=NY, code=010101]] Demonstrate serialization. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Set city on person 2. City on objects is different. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=New York, state=NY, code=010101]] Demonstrate cloning. Object p2 is a deep copy of p1. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Set city on person 2. City on objects is different. Person p1 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=Metropolis, state=NY, code=010101]] Person p2 = [first name=Clark, last name=Kent, address=[street=1 World Center, city=New York, state=NY, code=010101]]
JavaScript
You can use JSON for ordinary objects. <lang JavaScript> var deepcopy = function(o){
return JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(src));
};
var src = {foo:0,bar:[0,1]};
print(JSON.stringify(src));
var dst = deepcopy(src);
print(JSON.stringify(src));
</lang>
You can go further if you have uneval()
. You can even deep copy objects with cyclic references.
<lang JavaScript>
var deepcopy = function(o){
return eval(uneval(o));
}; var src = {foo:0,bar:[0,1]}; src['baz'] = src; print(uneval(src)); var dst = deepcopy(src); print(uneval(src)); </lang>
jq
The distinction between "deep" and "shallow" copying is as irrelevant in a jq program as in elementary arithmetic. There is only one "equality" operator in jq and it is defined in terms of equality of values.
In jq, a variable is merely a reference to a value, so in the pipeline:
[1,2] | . as $x | . as $y
both $x and $y are simply references to [1,2]. The same applies to function parameters.
jq's data values are JSON values, and in particular there are no pointers, and there is no way to create self-referential data structures as is possible, for example, in JavaScript. In JavaScript, the following pair of assignments would create a self-referential array:
x=[1,2]; x[0]=x; // javascript
In jq, the superficially similar sequence:
[1,2] as $x | ($x|setpath([0];$x)) # jq
merely emits [[1,2], 2].
Julia
<lang julia># v0.6.0
cp = deepcopy(obj)</lang>
Kotlin
The JDK has an Object.clone() method but it only produces a 'shallow' copy.
If a 'deep' copy is needed, then usually a custom method would be written.
However, an easy way to produce a deep copy for any object, including one which contains cyclic or null references, is to serialize it to memory and then deserialize it back to a new object. A drawback is that the class of the object to be serialized needs to be marked as implementing the Serializable interface (albeit it contains no members).
The serialization approach is used below. <lang scala>// Version 1.2.31
import java.io.Serializable import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream import java.io.ObjectOutputStream import java.io.ObjectInputStream
fun <T : Serializable> deepCopy(obj: T?): T? {
if (obj == null) return null val baos = ByteArrayOutputStream() val oos = ObjectOutputStream(baos) oos.writeObject(obj) oos.close() val bais = ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray()) val ois = ObjectInputStream(bais) @Suppress("unchecked_cast") return ois.readObject() as T
}
class Person(
val name: String, var age: Int, val sex: Char, var income: Double, var partner: Person?
) : Serializable
fun printDetails(p1: Person, p2: Person?, p3: Person, p4: Person?) {
with (p3) { println("Name : $name") println("Age : $age") println("Sex : $sex") println("Income : $income") if (p4 == null) { println("Partner : None") } else { println("Partner :-") with (p4) { println(" Name : $name") println(" Age : $age") println(" Sex : $sex") println(" Income : $income") } } println("\nSame person as original '$name' == ${p1 === p3}") if (p4 != null) { println("Same person as original '${p2!!.name}' == ${p2 === p4}") } } println()
}
fun main(args: Array<String>) {
var p1 = Person("John", 35, 'M', 50000.0, null) val p2 = Person("Jane", 32, 'F', 25000.0, p1) p1.partner = p2 var p3 = deepCopy(p1) val p4 = p3!!.partner printDetails(p1, p2, p3, p4)
println("..or, say, after 2 years have elapsed:-\n") with (p1) { age = 37 income = 55000.0 partner = null } p3 = deepCopy(p1) printDetails(p1, null, p3!!, null)
}</lang>
- Output:
Name : John Age : 35 Sex : M Income : 50000.0 Partner :- Name : Jane Age : 32 Sex : F Income : 25000.0 Same person as original 'John' == false Same person as original 'Jane' == false ..or, say, after 2 years have elapsed:- Name : John Age : 37 Sex : M Income : 55000.0 Partner : None Same person as original 'John' == false
Lasso
Every Lasso type has an ascopy and ascopydeep method.
<lang Lasso>local(copy) = #myobject->ascopydeep</lang>
Lingo
<lang lingo>-- Supports lists, property lists, images, script instances and scalar values (integer, float, string, symbol). on deepcopy (var, cycleCheck)
case ilk(var) of #list, #propList, #image: return var.duplicate() #instance: if string(var) starts "<Xtra " then return var -- deep copy makes no sense for Xtra instances if voidP(cycleCheck) then cycleCheck = [:] if not voidP(cycleCheck[var]) then return cycleCheck[var] copy = var.script.rawNew() cycleCheck[var] = copy repeat with i = 1 to var.count copy.setProp(var.getPropAt(i), deepcopy(var[i], cycleCheck)) end repeat return copy otherwise: return var end case
end</lang> <lang lingo>val = [#foo:42, "bar":[1,2,3, "Hello world!"]] put deepcopy(val) -- [#foo: 42, "bar": [1, 2, 3, "Hello world!"]]
val = script("MyClass").new() val.foo = 42 val.bar = [1, 2, 3, "Hello world!"]] copy = deepcopy(val)</lang>
Lua
These are simple functions which illustrate the possibility to use tables as table keys in Lua. More robust implementation, such as this, would also deep-copy metatables, function upvalues, etc.
Recursive
<lang Lua>function _deepcopy(o, tables)
if type(o) ~= 'table' then return o end if tables[o] ~= nil then return tables[o] end local new_o = {} tables[o] = new_o for k, v in next, o, nil do local new_k = _deepcopy(k, tables) local new_v = _deepcopy(v, tables) new_o[new_k] = new_v end return new_o
end
function deepcopy(o)
return _deepcopy(o, {})
end</lang>
- Output:
> a = {'beans', 'sausage', 'eggs', {table='wood', fork='silver', dish='china'}} > aa = deepcopy(a) > > a table: 0x55ef852b8390 > aa table: 0x55ef852b4e50 > > aa[2] sausage > aa[2] = 'bacon' > aa[2] bacon > a[2] sausage > > a[4] table: 0x55ef852b8880 > aa[4] table: 0x55ef8528d6d0 > aa[4].dish china
Works with self-referencing / cyclic tables as well:
> z = {} > z[1] = {} > z[1][2] = {} > z[1][2][3] = z > zz = deepcopy(z) > z table: 0x557659e84c00 > zz table: 0x557659e59630 > z[1] table: 0x557659e85160 > zz[1] table: 0x557659e596c0 > z[1][2] table: 0x557659e85790 > zz[1][2] table: 0x557659e597a0 > z[1][2][3] table: 0x557659e84c00 > zz[1][2][3] table: 0x557659e59630
Table keys are also deep-cloned:
> q = {} > q[q] = q > qq = deepcopy(q) > qq[q] nil > qq[qq] table: 0x557659e859f0 > qq[qq] == qq true
Non-recursive
These functions have a string argument mode
(like __mode
in a metatable),
which determines whether keys, values, both or neither will be deep-copied (defaults to values).
Breadth-first
<lang Lua>function deepcopy(o, mode)
if type(o) ~= 'table' then return o end
mode = mode and mode:lower() or 'v' local deep_keys = mode:find('k') local deep_values = mode:find('v')
local new_t = {} local stack = {o} local tables = {[o] = new_t}
local function copy(v) if type(v) ~= 'table' then return v end if tables[v] == nil then tables[v] = {} stack[#stack+1] = v end return tables[v] end
while #stack ~= 0 do local t = table.remove(stack) local new_t = tables[t] for k,v in next, t, nil do if deep_keys then k = copy(k) end if deep_values then v = copy(v) end new_t[k] = v end end
return new_t
end</lang>
> q = {} > q[q] = q > q1 = deepcopy(q) > q2 = deepcopy(q, 'kv') > q1[q] == q1 true > q1[q1] == q1 false > q2[q2] == q2 true
Depth-first
When the current source table t
contains either value (v
) or key
(k
) which is a table, then the source table t
is pushed onto stack,
together with the current key k
. The key/value then becomes the current source
table and current key is reset to nil
. In other words, the current "context" is
saved and replaced by a new one, consisting of the subtable (k
or v
)
and a nil
key (nil
, because we must start traversing the subtable
from the beginning).
If both key k
and value v
are tables (and mode
is
"kv"
), then an additional value 0
is pushed onto stack to indicate
that both key and value must be copied. The key table k
is then copied, and after
copying it and seeing 0
on top of the stack, the value table v
is copied. Then, the context is restored and copying of the parent table continues.
<lang Lua>function deepcopy(o, mode)
if type(o) ~= 'table' then return o end
mode = mode and mode:lower() or 'v' local deep_keys = mode:find('k') local deep_values = mode:find('v')
local tables = {[o] = {}} -- list of known tables (to handle circular tables) local stack = {o} -- first table which will be popped from stack is the root table -- and the key must be `nil` because we are at the beginning -- of the root table. since it's `nil`, we don't need to put it -- on the stack - `table.remove()` will by default return `nil` -- when called on an empty table.
while #stack ~= 0 do local t, new_t, k, v = table.remove(stack) -- assigns only to `t`, -- other variables are set to `nil` if t ~= 0 then k = table.remove(stack) -- restore the context
else -- we finished copying the key, now copy the value t = stack[#stack] -- get the parent table to retrieve the value from k = stack[#stack-1] -- get saved key t = t[k] -- retrieve the value from the parent table and set it as the current table k = nil -- reset key (start traversing the value table from the beginning) end new_t = tables[t] -- get the new table from the list of known tables
if k ~= nil then -- this is always true except for -- 1. when we just popped the root table `o` -- 2. when we just finished copying the key table -- and now we have to copy the value table local v = t[k] -- get the original value -- if we want to deep-copy keys, then get its copy from the list -- of known tables. if it's not there, then it isn't a table, -- so keep its original value. same goes for the value. if deep_keys then k = tables[k] or k end if deep_values then v = tables[v] or v end new_t[k] = v -- put value into the new table end
k,v = next(t,k) -- in case we have just started traversing the root table `o`, this retrieves -- the first key and value, as well as in case we have just finished copying -- the key table and are now copying the value table. otherwise, it continues -- where we left off when we descended into subtable.
while k ~= nil do -- we need to deep-copy the key/value only if -- 1. we want to do it (eg. `mode` specifies to deep-copy keys/values), AND -- 2. it is a table, AND -- 3. we haven't copied it already (and are not copying it right now) local copy_key = deep_keys and type(k) == 'table' and not tables[k] local copy_value = deep_values and type(v) == 'table' and not tables[v]
if not copy_key and not copy_value then -- boring stuff -- if either `deep_keys` is `nil` (we don't want to deep-copy keys) -- or `tables[k]` is `nil` (the key is not a table), then keep the key's original value, -- otherwise use the value saved in `tables`. same goes for the value. local new_k = deep_keys and tables[k] or k local new_v = deep_values and tables[v] or v new_t[new_k] = new_v -- put the value into the new table
else -- copy_key or copy_value stack[#stack+1] = k -- save current context stack[#stack+1] = t
if copy_key then t = k -- descend into the key table if copy_value then stack[#stack+1] = 0 -- remember we have to copy the value table as well tables[v] = {} -- create new table for the value beforehand end else -- copy only the value t = v -- descent into the value table end
new_t = {} -- create new table tables[t] = new_t -- add it to the list of known tables k = nil -- reset the key end
k,v = next(t,k) -- get next key/value (or first, in case we just descended into a subtable) end end
return tables[o] -- return the copy corresponding to the root table `o`
end</lang>
Mathematica / Wolfram Language
Everything in Mathematica is a value type. <lang Mathematica>a = {"foo", \[Pi], {<|
"deep" -> {# + 1 &, {{"Mathematica"}, {{"is"}, {"a"}}, {{{"cool"}}}, \
{{"programming"}, {"language!"}}}}|>}}; b = a; a2 -= 3; a3, 1, 1, 1 = #^2 &; Print[a]; Print[b];</lang>
- Output:
{foo, -3 + π, {<|deep -> {#1^2 &, {{Mathematica}, {{is}, {a}}, {{{cool}}}, {{programming}, {language!}}}}|>}} {foo, π, {<|deep -> {#1+1&, {{Mathematica}, {{is}, {a}}, {{{cool}}}, {{programming}, {language!}}}}|>}}
Nim
Works with Nim 1.4.0: <lang nim>deepCopy(newObj, obj)</lang> For example with binary trees: <lang nim>type
Node[T] = ref TNode[T] TNode[T] = object data: T left, right: Node[T]
proc newNode[T](data: T; left, right: Node[T] = nil): Node[T] =
Node[T](data: data, left: left, right: right)
proc preorder[T](n: Node[T]): seq[T] =
if n == nil: @[] else: @[n.data] & preorder(n.left) & preorder(n.right)
var tree = 1.newNode(
2.newNode( 4.newNode( 7.newNode), 5.newNode), 3.newNode( 6.newNode( 8.newNode, 9.newNode)))
var tree2: Node[int] tree2.deepCopy tree tree2.data = 10 tree2.left.data = 20 tree2.right.left.data = 90
echo "Tree2:" echo preorder tree2
echo "Tree:" echo preorder tree</lang> Output:
Tree2: @[10, 20, 4, 7, 5, 3, 90, 8, 9] Tree: @[1, 2, 4, 7, 5, 3, 6, 8, 9]
OCaml
This code is just provided in order to achieve this task, but an OCaml programmer wouldn't use this kind of code, because this copy
function is made generic due to the use of the Obj
module, and it is not recommanded to use it.
<lang ocaml>let rec copy t =
if Obj.is_int t then t else let tag = Obj.tag t in if tag = Obj.double_tag then t else if tag = Obj.closure_tag then t else if tag = Obj.string_tag then Obj.repr (String.copy (Obj.obj t)) else if tag = 0 || tag = Obj.double_array_tag then begin let size = Obj.size t in let r = Obj.new_block tag size in for i = 0 to pred size do Obj.set_field r i (copy (Obj.field t i)) done; r end else failwith "copy" ;;
let copy (v : 'a) : 'a = Obj.obj (copy (Obj.repr v))</lang>
OCaml programmers will prefer to use specialised copy functions for each mutable types. For base types like strings and arrays, the standard library provides copy functions: String.copy
and Array.copy
. For mutable user-defined data structures, we will create a copy function based on these previous copy functions. For example in the module Hashtbl
, the type is a record containing an integer and an array, so the copy function is defined as below:
<lang ocaml>let copy h =
{ size = h.size; data = Array.copy h.data }</lang>
PARI/GP
All copies in GP are deep; this is one of its major inefficiencies when working with large objects.
In PARI, this is accomplished with the command gcopy
rather than shallowcopy
or leafcopy
. The function takes and returns a GEN
. See section 10.6 of the User's Guide to the PARI Library.
Perl
use Storable; Storable::dclone()
is exactly what you are looking for.
<lang Perl>
- !/usr/bin/perl
use strict; use warnings; use Storable; use Data::Dumper;
my $src = { foo => 0, bar => [0, 1] }; $src->{baz} = $src; my $dst = Storable::dclone($src); print Dumper($src); print Dumper($dst); </lang>
Phix
Handled natively. Phix uses reference counting with copy-on-write semantics; the initial copy is fast even for huge complex and deeply nested structures (copying a single machine-word-sized reference and incrementing a single machine-word-sized reference count), and when a shared object (anything with a refcount>1) is modified, an internal clone of the minimum necessary levels occurs, with all the rest of the structure remaining shared (but obviously still properly protected in the same way). <lang Phix>object a, b
a = {1,{2,3},"four",{5.6,7,{8.9}}} b = a b[3] = 4
?a ?b</lang>
- Output:
{1,{2,3},"four",{5.6,7,{8.9}}} {1,{2,3},4,{5.6,7,{8.9}}}
It is worth noting that this mechanism is also used for parameter passing, and when a local variable is both passed as a parameter and assigned on return, automatic pass-by-reference handling kicks in to avoid any unnecessary internal cloning.
Should you for some (probably misguided) reason really want it, a recursive clone function might look like this: <lang Phix>function deep_copy(object o) object res
if atom(o) then res = o else res = repeat(' ',length(o)) for i=1 to length(o) do res[i] = deep_copy(o[i]) end for end if return res
end function
object c = deep_copy(b) ?c</lang> Or you could just serialize and deserialize: <lang Phix>include builtins\serialize.e object d = deserialize(serialize(a)) ?d</lang>
- Output:
{1,{2,3},4,{5.6,7,{8.9}}} {1,{2,3},"four",{5.6,7,{8.9}}}
PHP
PHP provides the clone
operator (docs) for shallow copying, and allows you to hook into a magic class method called __clone()
in your classes to do some of the lifting to create deeper copies, but this method won't create a true deep copy if you don't write the code to manage it in each of the child classes.
<lang PHP><?php class Foo {
public function __clone() { $this->child = clone $this->child; }
}
$object = new Foo; $object->some_value = 1; $object->child = new stdClass; $object->child->some_value = 1;
$deepcopy = clone $object; $deepcopy->some_value++; $deepcopy->child->some_value++;
echo "Object contains {$object->some_value}, child contains {$object->child->some_value}\n",
"Clone of object contains {$deepcopy->some_value}, child contains {$deepcopy->child->some_value}\n";
?></lang>
Automatically generated deep copies can be created in any situation where your object graph can be serialized (i.e. does not contain any Closures or resources like DB connections or file handles):
<lang PHP><?php
// stdClass is a default PHP object $object = new stdClass; $object->some_value = 1; $object->child = new stdClass; $object->child->some_value = 1;
$deepcopy = unserialize(serialize($object)); $deepcopy->some_value++; $deepcopy->child->some_value++;
echo "Object contains {$object->some_value}, child contains {$object->child->some_value}\n",
"Clone of object contains {$deepcopy->some_value}, child contains {$deepcopy->child->some_value}\n";</lang>
PicoLisp
A shallow copy can be done with 'copy'. This function takes care of cons pairs and lists, no matter whether they are cyclic, or end in NIL or some other data structure.
For a known depth, it might be used in combination with other list functions. For example, to copy a non-cyclic structure of depth 2 with 'mapcar': <lang PicoLisp>(mapcar copy List)</lang> Copying non-cyclic structures of arbitrary depth and list-termination could be handled with a custom function (using 'cons'): <lang PicoLisp>(de deepCopy (X)
(if (atom X) X (cons (deepCopy (car X)) (deepCopy (cdr X))) ) )</lang>
Test: <lang PicoLisp>: (setq A '((a . b) (c d e) f g . e)) -> ((a . b) (c d e) f g . e)
- (setq B (deepCopy A))
-> ((a . b) (c d e) f g . e)
- A
-> ((a . b) (c d e) f g . e)
- B
-> ((a . b) (c d e) f g . e)
- (= A B)
-> T # A and its copy B are structure-equal
- (== A B)
-> NIL # but they are not identical (pointer-equal)
- (cadr A)
-> (c d e)
- (cadr B)
-> (c d e)
- (== (cadr A) (cadr B))
-> NIL # The same holds for sub-structures</lang> For cyclic structures, the above 'deepCopy' function could be extended, to remember already visited structures and their copies in a mark list: <lang PicoLisp>(de deepCopy (X)
(let Mark NIL (recur (X) (cond ((atom X) X) ((asoq X Mark) (cdr @)) (T (prog1 (cons) (push 'Mark (cons X @)) (set @ (recurse (car X))) (con @ (recurse (cdr X))) ) ) ) ) ) )</lang>
Test: <lang PicoLisp>: (setq A '(a b .) B (deepCopy A)) -> (a b .)
- A
-> (a b .)
- B
-> (a b .)
- (= A B)
-> T # A and its copy B are structure-equal
- (== A B)
-> NIL # but they are not identical (pointer-equal)</lang>
PureBasic
<lang PureBasic>Macro PrintStruc(StrucVal)
PrintN(Str(StrucVal#\value1)) PrintN(Chr(StrucVal#\value2)) PrintN(StrucVal#\value3) If StrucVal#\value4 PrintN("TRUE") Else PrintN("FALSE") EndIf PrintN("")
EndMacro
Structure TTypeA
value1.i value2.c value3.s[10] value4.b
EndStructure
Define.TTypeA a, b
a\value1=10 a\value2='A' a\value3="OK" a\value4=#True
b=a
a\value1=20 a\value2='B' a\value3="NOK" a\value4=#False
If OpenConsole("")
PrintN("Value of 'a':") : PrintStruc(a) PrintN("Value of 'b':") : PrintStruc(b) Input()
EndIf</lang>
- Output:
Value of 'a':20 B NOK FALSE
Value of 'b': 10 A OK TRUE
Python
<lang Python>import copy deepcopy_of_obj = copy.deepcopy(obj)</lang>
Racket
Unlike most Lisps, Racket's pairs are immutable, but they still support sharing and cycles using shared (or at the lower level, via make-reader-graph). This would make the implementation a little more complicated, but it's much easier to just dump the structure out and re-read it to get a new copy:
<lang Racket>
- lang racket
(define (deepcopy x)
;; make sure that all sharings are shown (parameterize ([print-graph #t]) (read (open-input-string (format "~s" x)))))
(define (try x)
;; use the same setting to see that it worked (parameterize ([print-graph #t]) (printf "original: ~s\n" x) (printf "deepcopy: ~s\n" (deepcopy x)) ;; print both also, which shows that they are indeed different (printf "both: ~s\n" (list x (deepcopy x)))))
(try (shared ([x (cons 1 x)]) (list x x))) </lang>
Output:
original: (#0=(1 . #0#) #0#) deepcopy: (#0=(1 . #0#) #0#) both: ((#0=(1 . #0#) #0#) (#1=(1 . #1#) #1#))
Raku
(formerly Perl 6)
Raku doesn't currently provide a proper mechanism for deep copies, but depending on your requirements you could use one of these work-arounds:
1) Use .deepmap(*.clone)
:
.deepmap constructs a copy of the data structure, and .clone makes a shallow copy of each leaf node. Limitations:
- Hangs indefinitely when given a self-referential data structure.
- Descends only into Iterable collections (like Array/Hash), which means that a Pair or a typical custom object would be considered a leaf node.
<lang perl6>my %x = foo => 0, bar => [0, 1]; my %y = %x.deepmap(*.clone);
%x<bar>[1]++; say %x; say %y;</lang>
- Output:
{bar => [0 2], foo => 0} {bar => [0 1], foo => 0}
2) Use .raku.EVAL
:
.raku serializes the data structure to Raku code, and .EVAL deserializes it. Limitations:
- Doesn't work correctly if the data structure contains elements that can't be properly serialized, such as closures or file handles.
<lang perl6>my %x = foo => 0, bar => [0, 1]; my %y = %x.raku.EVAL;
%x<bar>[1]++; say %x; say %y;</lang>
- Output:
{bar => [0 2], foo => 0} {bar => [0 1], foo => 0}
Ruby
Rubyists can hack a deep copy by using the core class Marshal. The intermediate form of Marshal.load(Marshal.dump object)
saves the object and any descendant objects.
<lang ruby># _orig_ is a Hash that contains an Array. orig = { :num => 1, :ary => [2, 3] } orig[:cycle] = orig # _orig_ also contains itself.
- _copy_ becomes a deep copy of _orig_.
copy = Marshal.load(Marshal.dump orig)
- These changes to _orig_ never affect _copy_,
- because _orig_ and _copy_ are disjoint structures.
orig[:ary] << 4 orig[:rng] = (5..6)
- Because of deep copy, orig[:ary] and copy[:ary]
- refer to different Arrays.
p orig # => {:num=>1, :ary=>[2, 3, 4], :cycle=>{...}, :rng=>5..6} p copy # => {:num=>1, :ary=>[2, 3], :cycle=>{...}}
- The original contains itself, and the copy contains itself,
- but the original and the copy are not the same object.
p [(orig.equal? orig[:cycle]),
(copy.equal? copy[:cycle]), (not orig.equal? copy)] # => [true, true, true]</lang>
Marshal cannot dump an object that relates to the system (like Dir or IO), relates to the program (like MatchData or Thread), uses an anonymous class or module, or has a singleton method. (ri Marshal.dump
documents this restriction.) If Marshal encounters any such object, then the deep copy fails.
Marshal can dump internal objects, but never copies them. The internal objects are nil
, false
, true
and instances of Fixnum or Symbol. For example, Marshal.load(Marshal.dump :sym)
returns the original :sym
, not a copy.
The internal objects are almost immutable, so there is almost no reason to copy them. Yet, there are esoteric ways to modify them. For example,
nil.instance_eval { @i = 1 }
would modifynil
. A program cannot have another copy ofnil
to escape such modification. If there was a deep copy of some object that containsnil
, then such modification would also affectnil
inside such copy.
Rust
This is what the Clone
trait exists for although the depth of the copy is arbitrary and up to the type that implements the trait.
<lang rust>// The compiler can automatically implement Clone on structs (assuming all members have implemented Clone).
- [derive(Clone)]
struct Tree<T> {
left: Leaf<T>, data: T, right: Leaf<T>,
}
type Leaf<T> = Option<Box<Tree<T>>>;
impl<T> Tree<T> {
fn root(data: T) -> Self { Self { left: None, data, right: None } }
fn leaf(d: T) -> Leaf<T> { Some(Box::new(Self::root(d))) }
}
fn main() {
let mut tree = Tree::root([4, 5, 6]); tree.right = Tree::leaf([1, 2, 3]); tree.left = Tree::leaf([7, 8, 9]);
let newtree = tree.clone();
}</lang>
Scheme
<lang Scheme> (define (deep-copy-1 exp)
;; basic version that copies an arbitrary tree made up of pairs (cond ((pair? exp)
(cons (deep-copy-1 (car exp)) (deep-copy-1 (cdr exp)))) ;; cases for extra container data types can be ;; added here, like vectors and so on (else ;; atomic objects (if (string? exp) (string-copy exp) exp))))
(define (deep-copy-2 exp)
(let ((sharing (make-hash-table))) (let loop ((exp exp)) (cond ((pair? exp)
(cond ((get-hash-table sharing exp #f) => (lambda (copy) copy)) (else (let ((res (cons #f #f))) (put-hash-table! sharing exp res) (set-car! res (loop (car exp))) (set-cdr! res (loop (cdr exp))) res)))) (else (if (string? exp) (string-copy exp) exp))))))
(define t1 '(a b c d)) (define t2 (list #f)) (set-car! t2 t2) (define t2b (list #f)) (set-car! t2b t2b) (define t3 (list #f #f)) (set-car! t3 t3) (set-car! (cdr t3) t3) (define t4 (list t2 t2b))
- > (print-graph #t)
- > (deep-copy-2 t1)
- (a b c d)
- > (deep-copy-2 t2)
- 0=(#0#)
- > (deep-copy-2 t3)
- 0=(#0# #0#)
- > (deep-copy-2 t4)
- (#0=(#0#) #1=(#1#))
</lang>
Sidef
Object.dclone() returns a deep clone of any mutable object. <lang ruby>var src = Hash(foo => 0, bar => [0,1])
- Add a cyclic reference
src{:baz} = src
- Make a deep clone
var dst = src.dclone
- The address of src
say src.object_id say src{:baz}.object_id
- The address of dst
say dst.object_id say dst{:baz}.object_id</lang>
- Output:
15154128 15154128 25296304 25296304
Tcl
Tcl uses an immutable value model that is implemented as copy-on-write at the low level, so deep copies are generally not required. However, they can be achieved by simply appending a letter to the value and stripping it off again: <lang tcl>set deepCopy [string range ${valueToCopy}x 0 end-1]</lang> For objects (as introduced in Tcl 8.6), there is a command to create a copy: <lang tcl>set copiedObject [oo::copy $originalObject]</lang>
Wren
Wren does not have any built-in facilities for deep-copying an object and you therefore have to write your own method to do this.
However, using the above module, a class can inherit from the Cloneable or CloneableSeq abstract class and override its clone() method. Knowing that objects have such a method is useful when cloning other objects which contain them as fields or nested fields.
Note though that, since Wren is dynamically typed, it may be impractical or impossible to deep-copy generic objects because, if an object does not have a clone() method, all that can be done is to return the argument itself which, unless it is a built-in immutable type, will simply be a reference to the original.
In the following example, we attempt to deep-copy a custom type, MyMap, which wraps the built-in generic Map type. This succeeds here because of the types of values used but wouldn't succeed if a Map value were, say, some user-defined type which didn't have a clone() method. <lang ecmascript>import "/trait" for Cloneable, CloneableSeq import "/seq" for Lst
class MyMap is Cloneable {
construct new (m) { if (m.type != Map) Fiber.abort("Argument must be a Map.") _m = m }
m { _m }
toString { _m.toString }
clone() { // Map keys are always immutable built-in types so we only need to worry about // their values which can be anything. var m2 = {} for (me in _m) { var v = me.value m2[me.key] = (v is List) ? Lst.clone(v) : (v is Cloneable || v is CloneableSeq) ? v.clone() : v } return MyMap.new(m2) }
}
var my = MyMap.new({"a": 0, "b": 1, "c": [2, 3], "d": MyMap.new({"e": 4})}) var my2 = my.clone() System.print("Before any changes:") System.print(" my = %(my)") System.print(" my2 = %(my2)") // now change my2 my2.m["a"] = 5 my2.m["b"] = 6 my2.m["c"][0] = 7 my2.m["c"][1] = 8 my2.m["d"].m["e"] = 9 my2.m["d"].m["f"] = 10 System.print("\nAfter changes to my2:") System.print(" my = %(my)") System.print(" my2 = %(my2)")</lang>
- Output:
Before any changes: my = {c: [2, 3], d: {e: 4}, b: 1, a: 0} my2 = {c: [2, 3], d: {e: 4}, b: 1, a: 0} After changes to my2: my = {c: [2, 3], d: {e: 4}, b: 1, a: 0} my2 = {c: [7, 8], d: {e: 9, f: 10}, b: 6, a: 5}
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