AutoHotkey Community

I have a 2D array referenced like the following examples...

It could not be created with the StringSplit command. This is only a small example. My array is usually 1-5 levels deep in the first dimension, and then about 6 levels deep in the second dimension.

Is there an easy way to clear out the array? Or do I need to do a loop and iterate through each possibility?

Maybe I could use the ListVars command and then loop through its results, checking to see if the var name matched the arrays "prefix". Then I could do a delete if it matched.

Using ListVars is a very good idea, although not very fast, because it involves opening and closing a new window. Here is an example how to use it.

oh, I didn't know that using ListVars would be so clunky. That won't work for my application. I guess I'll just do something else.

Maybe as I loop through the array, I can increment a counter to keep a total of elements.

So does that mean if I do this to a variable, that it takes it out of memory?

It just makes the contents of varname empty (from the manual):

"Var =" removes the content, but the name of Var remains in the list of variables. If you use hundreds of thousands of them, the names might also be an issue (slows down variable reference, occupies memory). If you can put the processing in a function with local variables, they get removed when the function returns. There are some situations when you cannot.That is, if you need a large number of global variables, you may not be able to use local arrays.

The ListVars solution is not really "clunky". It takes 10 lines of code and clears a few thousand entries under a second.

Efficient, creative, handy maybe but certainly clunky...

Can ListVars be written to #ErrorStdOut ? or can you use the method the documentation offers to read it?



I dunno, untested, just a thought

I don't know any way to write to ErrorStdOut from a script, but what would it be good for?

(For us, who learned English as a third language:
clunky = lacking grace in movement or posture; clumsy in form or manner; awkward)

It would be handy to have an option for listvars that could return the result in a variable instead of displaying a window...

It's not a commonly used word for those of us that learned English as a first language either (at least not here...) .

I posted a similar wish about KeyHistory. Only three readers said they would use it, so I don't see any chance to convince Chris to provide any of the three useful information pages (Key History – for dynamic hotstrings, timing/history dependent hotkeys, "press a key to continue", chording; List Vars – for deleting unneeded dynamic variables, on-line error checking; Recent Lines Executed – for debug information: user error messages with the location of the problem and with the last few lines executed). Most of the time there is a clunky workaround, though.

yes, clunky was what I meant. But "clumsy" is another word sometimes used for workarounds that are not all that smooth. To me, for this application, I don't want any windows to be open then immediately closed. That would be clunky. However, I probably would not hesitate to use that method in my personal-use scripts.

Have you thought about using functions with local arrays?

:?: How do you mean?
... as in passing the array "prefix" into the function, and letting the function iterate through the array, deleting everything?

No, the function should do all the array calculations with a local array. When you don't need the data any more, return, and if necessary, restart the function from an outer loop. All the previous local variables are automatically erased.