Example:
type MyString string
var s = "very long string"
var ms = MyString(s)
var s2 = string(s)
Are ms
or s2
a full copy of s
(as it would be done with []byte(s)
)? Or they are just a string struct copies (which keeps the real value in a pointer)? What if we are passing this to a function? Eg:
func foo(s MyString){
...
}
foo(ms(s)) // do we copy s here?
Specific rules apply to (non-constant) conversions between numeric types or to and from a string type. These conversions may change the representation of
x
and incur a run-time cost. All other conversions only change the type but not the representation ofx
.
So converting to and from the underlying type of your custom type does not make a copy if it.
When you pass a value to a function or method, a copy is made and passed. If you pass a string
to a function, only the structure describing the string
will be copied and passed, since string
s are immutable.
Same is true if you pass a slice (slices are also descriptors). Passing a slice will make a copy of the slice descriptor but it will refer to the same underlying array.