Vector

vector<T> is the only primitive collection type provided by Move. A vector<T> is a homogeneous collection of T's that can grow or shrink by pushing/popping values off the "end".

A vector<T> can be instantiated with any type T. For example, vector<u64>, vector<address>, vector<0x42::my_module::MyData>, and vector<vector<u8>> are all valid vector types.

Literals

General `vector` Literals

Vectors of any type can be created with vector literals.

Syntax	Type	Description
`vector[]`	`vector[]: vector<T>` where `T` is any single, non-reference type	An empty vector
`vector[e1, ..., en]`	`vector[e1, ..., en]: vector<T>` where `e_i: T` s.t. `0 < i <= n` and `n > 0`	A vector with `n` elements (of length `n`)

In these cases, the type of the vector is inferred, either from the element type or from the vector's usage. If the type cannot be inferred, or simply for added clarity, the type can be specified explicitly:

vector<T>[]: vector<T>
vector<T>[e1, ..., en]: vector<T>

Example Vector Literals

(vector[]: vector<bool>);
(vector[0u8, 1u8, 2u8]: vector<u8>);
(vector<u128>[]: vector<u128>);
(vector<address>[@0x42, @0x100]: vector<address>);

`vector<u8>` literals

A common use-case for vectors in Move is to represent "byte arrays", which are represented with vector<u8>. These values are often used for cryptographic purposes, such as a public key or a hash result. These values are so common that specific syntax is provided to make the values more readable, as opposed to having to use vector[] where each individual u8 value is specified in numeric form.

There are currently two supported types of vector<u8> literals, byte strings and hex strings.

Byte Strings

Byte strings are quoted string literals prefixed by a b, e.g. b"Hello!\n".

These are ASCII encoded strings that allow for escape sequences. Currently, the supported escape sequences are:

Escape Sequence	Description
`\n`	New line (or Line feed)
`\r`	Carriage return
`\t`	Tab
`\\`	Backslash
`\0`	Null
`\"`	Quote
`\xHH`	Hex escape, inserts the hex byte sequence `HH`

Hex Strings

Hex strings are quoted string literals prefixed by a x, e.g. x"48656C6C6F210A".

Each byte pair, ranging from 00 to FF, is interpreted as hex encoded u8 value. So each byte pair corresponds to a single entry in the resulting vector<u8>.

Example String Literals

fun byte_and_hex_strings() {
    assert!(b"" == x"", 0);
    assert!(b"Hello!\n" == x"48656C6C6F210A", 1);
    assert!(b"\x48\x65\x6C\x6C\x6F\x21\x0A" == x"48656C6C6F210A", 2);
    assert!(
        b"\"Hello\tworld!\"\n \r \\Null=\0" ==
            x"2248656C6C6F09776F726C6421220A200D205C4E756C6C3D00",
        3
    );
}

Operations

vector supports the following operations via the std::vector module in the Move standard library:

Function	Description	Aborts?
`vector::empty<T>(): vector<T>`	Create an empty vector that can store values of type `T`	Never
`vector::singleton<T>(t: T): vector<T>`	Create a vector of size 1 containing `t`	Never
`vector::push_back<T>(v: &mut vector<T>, t: T)`	Add `t` to the end of `v`	Never
`vector::pop_back<T>(v: &mut vector<T>): T`	Remove and return the last element in `v`	If `v` is empty
`vector::borrow<T>(v: &vector<T>, i: u64): &T`	Return an immutable reference to the `T` at index `i`	If `i` is not in bounds
`vector::borrow_mut<T>(v: &mut vector<T>, i: u64): &mut T`	Return a mutable reference to the `T` at index `i`	If `i` is not in bounds
`vector::destroy_empty<T>(v: vector<T>)`	Delete `v`	If `v` is not empty
`vector::append<T>(v1: &mut vector<T>, v2: vector<T>)`	Add the elements in `v2` to the end of `v1`	Never
`vector::contains<T>(v: &vector<T>, e: &T): bool`	Return true if `e` is in the vector `v`. Otherwise, returns false	Never
`vector::swap<T>(v: &mut vector<T>, i: u64, j: u64)`	Swaps the elements at the `i`th and `j`th indices in the vector `v`	If `i` or `j` is out of bounds
`vector::reverse<T>(v: &mut vector<T>)`	Reverses the order of the elements in the vector `v` in place	Never
`vector::index_of<T>(v: &vector<T>, e: &T): (bool, u64)`	Return `(true, i)` if `e` is in the vector `v` at index `i`. Otherwise, returns `(false, 0)`	Never
`vector::remove<T>(v: &mut vector<T>, i: u64): T`	Remove the `i`th element of the vector `v`, shifting all subsequent elements. This is O(n) and preserves ordering of elements in the vector	If `i` is out of bounds
`vector::swap_remove<T>(v: &mut vector<T>, i: u64): T`	Swap the `i`th element of the vector `v` with the last element and then pop the element, This is O(1), but does not preserve ordering of elements in the vector	If `i` is out of bounds

More operations may be added over time.

Example

use std::vector;

let mut v = vector::empty<u64>();
vector::push_back(&mut v, 5);
vector::push_back(&mut v, 6);

assert!(*vector::borrow(&v, 0) == 5, 42);
assert!(*vector::borrow(&v, 1) == 6, 42);
assert!(vector::pop_back(&mut v) == 6, 42);
assert!(vector::pop_back(&mut v) == 5, 42);

Destroying and copying `vector`s

Some behaviors of vector<T> depend on the abilities of the element type, T. For example, vectors containing elements that do not have drop cannot be implicitly discarded like v in the example above--they must be explicitly destroyed with vector::destroy_empty.

Note that vector::destroy_empty will abort at runtime unless vec contains zero elements:

fun destroy_any_vector<T>(vec: vector<T>) {
    vector::destroy_empty(vec) // deleting this line will cause a compiler error
}

But no error would occur for dropping a vector that contains elements with drop:

fun destroy_droppable_vector<T: drop>(vec: vector<T>) {
    // valid!
    // nothing needs to be done explicitly to destroy the vector
}

Similarly, vectors cannot be copied unless the element type has copy. In other words, a vector<T> has copy if and only if T has copy. Note that it will be implicitly copied if needed:

let x = vector[10];
let y = x; // implicit copy
let z = x;
(y, z)

Keep in mind, copies of large vectors can be expensive. If this is a concern, annotating the intended usage can prevent accidental copies. For example,

let x = vector[10];
let y = move x;
let z = x; // ERROR! x has been moved
(y, z)

For more details see the sections on type abilities and generics.

Ownership

As mentioned above, vector values can be copied only if the elements can be copied. In that case, the copy can be done via a copy or a dereference *.

The Move Reference