What is the best way to remove items from a slice while ranging over it?
For example:
type MultiDataPoint []*DataPoint
func (m MultiDataPoint) Json() ([]byte, error) {
for i, d := range m {
err := d.clean()
if ( err != nil ) {
//Remove the DP from m
}
}
return json.Marshal(m)
}
As you have mentioned elsewhere, you can allocate new memory block and copy only valid elements to it. However, if you want to avoid the allocation, you can rewrite your slice in-place:
i := 0 // output index
for _, x := range s {
if isValid(x) {
// copy and increment index
s[i] = x
i++
}
}
s = s[:i]
Full example: http://play.golang.org/p/FNDFswPeDJ
Note it'll leave some garbage after index i
in the underlying array, so make sure the there are no other slices using it elswhere.
Something like:
m = append(m[:i], m[i+1:]...)
There might be better ways, but here's an example that deletes the even values from a slice:
m := []int{1,2,3,4,5,6}
deleted := 0
for i := range m {
j := i - deleted
if (m[j] & 1) == 0 {
m = m[:j+copy(m[j:], m[j+1:])]
deleted++
}
}
Note that I don't get the element using the i, d := range m
syntax, since d
would end up getting set to the wrong elements once you start deleting from the slice.
One other option is to use a normal for loop using the length of the slice and subtract 1 from the index each time a value is removed. See the following example:
m := []int{3, 7, 2, 9, 4, 5}
for i := 0; i < len(m); i++ {
if m[i] < 5 {
m = append(m[:i], m[i+1:]...)
i-- // -1 as the slice just got shorter
}
}
I don't know if len()
uses enough resources to make any difference but you could also run it just once and subtract from the length value too:
m := []int{3, 7, 2, 9, 4, 5}
for i, s := 0, len(m); i < s; i++ {
if m[i] < 5 {
m = append(m[:i], m[i+1:]...)
s--
i--
}
}
I know its answered long time ago but i use something like this in other languages, but i don't know if it is the golang way.
Just iterate from back to front so you don't have to worry about indexes that are deleted. I am using the same example as Adam.
m = []int{3, 7, 2, 9, 4, 5}
for i := len(m)-1; i >= 0; i-- {
if m[i] < 5 {
m = append(m[:i], m[i+1:]...)
}
}
You don't even need to count backwards but you do need to check that you're at the end of the array where the suggested append()
will fail. Here's an example of removing duplicate positive integers from a sorted list:
// Remove repeating numbers
numbers := []int{1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5}
log.Println(numbers)
for i, numbersCount, prevNum := 0, len(numbers), -1; i < numbersCount; numbersCount = len(numbers) {
if numbers[i] == prevNum {
if i == numbersCount-1 {
numbers = numbers[:i]
} else {
numbers = append(numbers[:i], numbers[i+1:]...)
}
continue
}
prevNum = numbers[i]
i++
}
log.Println(numbers)
Playground: https://play.golang.org/p/v93MgtCQsaN
Try Sort and Binary search.
Example:
package main
import (
"fmt"
"sort"
)
func main() {
// Our slice.
s := []int{3, 7, 2, 9, 4, 5}
// 1. Iterate over it.
for i, v := range s {
func(i, v int) {}(i, v)
}
// 2. Sort it. (by whatever condition of yours)
sort.Slice(s, func(i, j int) bool {
return s[i] < s[j]
})
// 3. Cut it only once.
i := sort.Search(len(s), func(i int) bool { return s[i] >= 5 })
s = s[i:]
// That's it!
fmt.Println(s) // [5 7 9]
}
I just implements a method which removes all nil elements in slice.
And i used it to solve a leetcode problems, it works perfectly.
/**
* Definition for singly-linked list.
* type ListNode struct {
* Val int
* Next *ListNode
* }
*/
func removeNil(lists *[]*ListNode) {
for i := 0; i < len(*lists); i++ {
if (*lists)[i] == nil {
*lists = append((*lists)[:i], (*lists)[i+1:]...)
i--
}
}
}
Here is a more idiomatic Go way to remove elements from slices.
temp := s[:0]
for _, x := range s {
if isValid(x) {
temp = append(temp, x)
}
}
s = temp
Playground link: https://play.golang.org/p/OH5Ymsat7s9
Note: The example and playground links are based upon @tomasz's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/20551116/12003457