VarSetCapacity -1: updating string length v. capacity Topic is solved

[jeeswg]

I believe that using VarSetCapacity, and specifying -1, updates the perceived the length of the string, but doesn't alter the capacity of the variable. AFAICS, the documentation doesn't explicitly state that the capacity will remain the same.

VarSetCapacity()
https://autohotkey.com/docs/commands/VarSetCapacity.htm

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In v1.0.44.03+, specify -1 for RequestedCapacity to update the variable's internally-stored string length to the length of its current contents.

According to this test, the capacity does remain the same.

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q:: ;test VarSetCapacity
vText := ""

VarSetCapacity(vText, 100000)
MsgBox, % VarSetCapacity(vText, -1) " " VarSetCapacity(vText) " " &vText "`r`n" vText

vText := "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
MsgBox, % VarSetCapacity(vText, -1) " " VarSetCapacity(vText) " " &vText "`r`n" vText

NumPut(0, &vText, 10, "UShort")
MsgBox, % VarSetCapacity(vText, -1) " " VarSetCapacity(vText) " " &vText "`r`n" vText

NumPut(Ord("f"), &vText, 10, "UShort")
MsgBox, % VarSetCapacity(vText, -1) " " VarSetCapacity(vText) " " &vText "`r`n" vText
return

This is important in a situation where text is being repeatedly retrieved to the same buffer at a specific address, but where VarSetCapacity -1 is being used so that the text is ready to be appended to a growing variable or pushed into an array.

Anyway, I believe I've answered my own question, but I'll leave it here in case it can be interesting to others. Thanks for reading.

[EDIT:] In the example above, the address stayed constant. If the variable had been decreasing in size each time we did VarSetCapacity -1, then there might not be enough space for the next string due to be placed there.

An example of the address shifting as the variable size is increased.

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w:: ;test VarSetCapacity: resize variable
VarSetCapacity(vText, 10000)
MsgBox, % &vText
VarSetCapacity(vText, 5000)
MsgBox, % &vText
VarSetCapacity(vText, 50000)
MsgBox, % &vText
VarSetCapacity(vText, 100000)
MsgBox, % &vText
return