initializeMemory(as:to:)

Declaration

@discardableResult func initializeMemory<T>(as type: T.Type, to value: consuming T) -> UnsafeMutablePointer<T> where T : ~Copyable

Parameters

• type:

  The type to which this memory will be bound.

• value:

  The value used to initialize this memory.

Return Value

A typed pointer to the memory referenced by this raw pointer.

Discussion

The memory referenced by this pointer must be uninitialized or initialized to a trivial type, and must be properly aligned for accessing T.

The following example allocates raw memory for one instance of UInt, and then uses the initializeMemory(as:to:) method to initialize the allocated memory.

let bytePointer = UnsafeMutableRawPointer.allocate(
        byteCount: MemoryLayout<UInt>.stride,
        alignment: MemoryLayout<UInt>.alignment)
let int8Pointer = bytePointer.initializeMemory(as: UInt.self, to: 0)

// After using 'int8Pointer':
int8Pointer.deallocate()

After calling this method on a raw pointer p, the region starting at self and continuing up to p + MemoryLayout<T>.stride is bound to type T and initialized. If T is a nontrivial type, you must eventually deinitialize the memory in this region to avoid memory leaks.