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PackedStringArray ​

A packed array of Strings.

Description

An array specifically designed to hold Strings. Packs data tightly, so it saves memory for large array sizes.

If you want to join the strings in the array, use String.join.

gdscript
var string_array = PackedStringArray(["hello", "world"])
var string = " ".join(string_array)
print(string) # "hello world"

Differences between packed arrays, typed arrays, and untyped arrays: Packed arrays are generally faster to iterate on and modify compared to a typed array of the same type (e.g. PackedStringArray versus Array[String]). Also, packed arrays consume less memory. As a downside, packed arrays are less flexible as they don't offer as many convenience methods such as Array.map. Typed arrays are in turn faster to iterate on and modify than untyped arrays.

Note: Packed arrays are always passed by reference. To get a copy of an array that can be modified independently of the original array, use duplicate. This is not the case for built-in properties and methods. The returned packed array of these are a copies, and changing it will not affect the original value. To update a built-in property you need to modify the returned array, and then assign it to the property again.

INFO

There are notable differences when using this API with C#. See C# API differences to GDScript for more information.

Tutorials

Constructors

PackedStringArray

PackedStringArray()

PackedStringArray

PackedStringArray(from: PackedStringArray)

PackedStringArray

PackedStringArray(from: Array)

Methods

bool

append(value: String)

void

append_array(array: PackedStringArray)

int

bsearch(value: String, before: bool = true)

void

clear()

int

count(value: String) const

PackedStringArray

duplicate()

void

fill(value: String)

int

find(value: String, from: int = 0) const

bool

has(value: String) const

int

insert(at_index: int, value: String)

bool

is_empty() const

bool

push_back(value: String)

void

remove_at(index: int)

int

resize(new_size: int)

void

reverse()

int

rfind(value: String, from: int = -1) const

void

set(index: int, value: String)

int

size() const

PackedStringArray

slice(begin: int, end: int = 2147483647) const

void

sort()

PackedByteArray

to_byte_array() const

Operators

bool

operator !=(right: PackedStringArray)

PackedStringArray

operator +(right: PackedStringArray)

bool

operator ==(right: PackedStringArray)

String

operator [](index: int)


Constructor Descriptions

PackedStringArray PackedStringArray() 🔗

Constructs an empty PackedStringArray.


PackedStringArray PackedStringArray(from: PackedStringArray)

Constructs a PackedStringArray as a copy of the given PackedStringArray.


PackedStringArray PackedStringArray(from: Array)

Constructs a new PackedStringArray. Optionally, you can pass in a generic Array that will be converted.


Method Descriptions

bool append(value: String) 🔗

Appends an element at the end of the array (alias of push_back).


void append_array(array: PackedStringArray) 🔗

Appends a PackedStringArray at the end of this array.


int bsearch(value: String, before: bool = true) 🔗

Finds the index of an existing value (or the insertion index that maintains sorting order, if the value is not yet present in the array) using binary search. Optionally, a before specifier can be passed. If false, the returned index comes after all existing entries of the value in the array.

Note: Calling bsearch on an unsorted array results in unexpected behavior.


void clear() 🔗

Clears the array. This is equivalent to using resize with a size of 0.


int count(value: String) const 🔗

Returns the number of times an element is in the array.


PackedStringArray duplicate() 🔗

Creates a copy of the array, and returns it.


void fill(value: String) 🔗

Assigns the given value to all elements in the array. This can typically be used together with resize to create an array with a given size and initialized elements.


int find(value: String, from: int = 0) const 🔗

Searches the array for a value and returns its index or -1 if not found. Optionally, the initial search index can be passed.


bool has(value: String) const 🔗

Returns true if the array contains value.


int insert(at_index: int, value: String) 🔗

Inserts a new element at a given position in the array. The position must be valid, or at the end of the array (idx == size()).


bool is_empty() const 🔗

Returns true if the array is empty.


bool push_back(value: String) 🔗

Appends a string element at end of the array.


void remove_at(index: int) 🔗

Removes an element from the array by index.


int resize(new_size: int) 🔗

Sets the size of the array. If the array is grown, reserves elements at the end of the array. If the array is shrunk, truncates the array to the new size. Calling resize once and assigning the new values is faster than adding new elements one by one.


void reverse() 🔗

Reverses the order of the elements in the array.


int rfind(value: String, from: int = -1) const 🔗

Searches the array in reverse order. Optionally, a start search index can be passed. If negative, the start index is considered relative to the end of the array.


void set(index: int, value: String) 🔗

Changes the String at the given index.


int size() const 🔗

Returns the number of elements in the array.


PackedStringArray slice(begin: int, end: int = 2147483647) const 🔗

Returns the slice of the PackedStringArray, from begin (inclusive) to end (exclusive), as a new PackedStringArray.

The absolute value of begin and end will be clamped to the array size, so the default value for end makes it slice to the size of the array by default (i.e. arr.slice(1) is a shorthand for arr.slice(1, arr.size())).

If either begin or end are negative, they will be relative to the end of the array (i.e. arr.slice(0, -2) is a shorthand for arr.slice(0, arr.size() - 2)).


void sort() 🔗

Sorts the elements of the array in ascending order.


PackedByteArray to_byte_array() const 🔗

Returns a PackedByteArray with each string encoded as bytes.


Operator Descriptions

bool operator !=(right: PackedStringArray) 🔗

Returns true if contents of the arrays differ.


PackedStringArray operator +(right: PackedStringArray) 🔗

Returns a new PackedStringArray with contents of right added at the end of this array. For better performance, consider using append_array instead.


bool operator ==(right: PackedStringArray) 🔗

Returns true if contents of both arrays are the same, i.e. they have all equal Strings at the corresponding indices.


String operator [](index: int) 🔗

Returns the String at index index. Negative indices can be used to access the elements starting from the end. Using index out of array's bounds will result in an error.