Golang remove elements when iterating over slice panics - go

Question

I want delete some elements from a slice, and https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/SliceTricks advise this slice-manipulation:
a = append(a[:i], a[i+1:]...)
Then I coded below:
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
for i, value := range slice {
if value%3 == 0 { // remove 3, 6, 9
slice = append(slice[:i], slice[i+1:]...)
}
}
fmt.Printf("%v\n", slice)
}
with go run hello.go, it panics:
panic: runtime error: slice bounds out of range
goroutine 1 [running]:
panic(0x4ef680, 0xc082002040)
D:/Go/src/runtime/panic.go:464 +0x3f4
main.main()
E:/Code/go/test/slice.go:11 +0x395
exit status 2
How can I change this code to get right?
I tried below:
1st, with a goto statement:
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
Label:
for i, n := range slice {
if n%3 == 0 {
slice = append(slice[:i], slice[i+1:]...)
goto Label
}
}
fmt.Printf("%v\n", slice)
}
it works, but too much iteration
2nd, use another slice sharing same backing array:
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
dest := slice[:0]
for _, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 { // filter
dest = append(dest, n)
}
}
slice = dest
fmt.Printf("%v\n", slice)
}
but not sure if this one is better or not.
3rd, from Remove elements in slice, with len operator:
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
for i := 0; i < len(slice); i++ {
if slice[i]%3 == 0 {
slice = append(slice[:i], slice[i+1:]...)
i-- // should I decrease index here?
}
}
fmt.Printf("%v\n", slice)
}
which one should I take now?
with benchmark:
func BenchmarkRemoveSliceElementsBySlice(b *testing.B) {
for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
dest := slice[:0]
for _, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 {
dest = append(dest, n)
}
}
}
}
func BenchmarkRemoveSliceElementByLen(b *testing.B) {
for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
for i := 0; i < len(slice); i++ {
if slice[i]%3 == 0 {
slice = append(slice[:i], slice[i+1:]...)
}
}
}
}
$ go test -v -bench=".*"
testing: warning: no tests to run
PASS
BenchmarkRemoveSliceElementsBySlice-4 50000000 26.6 ns/op
BenchmarkRemoveSliceElementByLen-4 50000000 32.0 ns/op
it seems delete all elements in one loop is better

Answer 1

Iterate over the slice copying elements that you want to keep.
k := 0
for _, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 { // filter
slice[k] = n
k++
}
}
slice = slice[:k] // set slice len to remaining elements
The slice trick is useful in the case where a single element is deleted. If it's possible that more than one element will be deleted, then use the for loop above.
working playground example

Answer 2

while this is good answer for small slice:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
k := 0
for _, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 { // filter
slice[k] = n
k++
}
}
slice = slice[:k]
fmt.Println(slice) //[1 2 4 5 7 8]
}
for minimizing memory write for first elements (for big slice), you may use this:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
k := 0
for i, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 { // filter
if i != k {
slice[k] = n
}
k++
}
}
slice = slice[:k]
fmt.Println(slice) //[1 2 4 5 7 8]
}
and if you need new slice or preserving old slice:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
slice := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}
s2 := make([]int, len(slice))
k := 0
for _, n := range slice {
if n%3 != 0 { // filter
s2[k] = n
k++
}
}
s2 = s2[:k]
fmt.Println(s2) //[1 2 4 5 7 8]
}