System.Span<T> struct

Article
01/08/2024

This article provides supplementary remarks to the reference documentation for this API.

The Span<T> type is a ref struct that is allocated on the stack rather than on the managed heap. Ref struct types have a number of restrictions to ensure that they cannot be promoted to the managed heap, including that they can't be boxed, they can't be assigned to variables of type Object, dynamic or to any interface type, they can't be fields in a reference type, and they can't be used across await and yield boundaries. In addition, calls to two methods, Equals(Object) and GetHashCode, throw a NotSupportedException.

Important

Because it is a stack-only type, Span<T> is unsuitable for many scenarios that require storing references to buffers on the heap. This is true, for example, of routines that make asynchronous method calls. For such scenarios, you can use the complementary System.Memory<T> and System.ReadOnlyMemory<T> types.

For spans that represent immutable or read-only structures, use System.ReadOnlySpan<T>.

Memory

A Span<T> represents a contiguous region of arbitrary memory. A Span<T> instance is often used to hold the elements of an array or a portion of an array. Unlike an array, however, a Span<T> instance can point to managed memory, native memory, or memory managed on the stack. The following example creates a Span<Byte> from an array:

// Create a span over an array.
var array = new byte[100];
var arraySpan = new Span<byte>(array);

byte data = 0;
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < arraySpan.Length; ctr++)
    arraySpan[ctr] = data++;

int arraySum = 0;
foreach (var value in array)
    arraySum += value;

Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {arraySum}");
// Output:  The sum is 4950

// Create a span over an array.
let array = Array.zeroCreate<byte> 100
let arraySpan = Span<byte> array

let mutable data = 0uy
for i = 0 to arraySpan.Length - 1 do
    arraySpan[i] <- data
    data <- data + 1uy

let mutable arraySum = 0
for value in array do
    arraySum <- arraySum + int value

printfn $"The sum is {arraySum}"
// Output:  The sum is 4950

The following example creates a Span<Byte> from 100 bytes of native memory:

// Create a span from native memory.
var native = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(100);
Span<byte> nativeSpan;
unsafe
{
    nativeSpan = new Span<byte>(native.ToPointer(), 100);
}
byte data = 0;
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < nativeSpan.Length; ctr++)
    nativeSpan[ctr] = data++;

int nativeSum = 0;
foreach (var value in nativeSpan)
    nativeSum += value;

Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {nativeSum}");
Marshal.FreeHGlobal(native);
// Output:  The sum is 4950

// Create a span from native memory.
let native = Marshal.AllocHGlobal 100
let nativeSpan = Span<byte>(native.ToPointer(), 100)

let mutable data = 0uy
for i = 0 to nativeSpan.Length - 1 do
    nativeSpan[i] <- data
    data <- data + 1uy

let mutable nativeSum = 0
for value in nativeSpan do
    nativeSum <- nativeSum + int value

printfn $"The sum is {nativeSum}"
Marshal.FreeHGlobal native
// Output:  The sum is 4950

The following example uses the C# stackalloc keyword to allocate 100 bytes of memory on the stack:

// Create a span on the stack.
byte data = 0;
Span<byte> stackSpan = stackalloc byte[100];
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < stackSpan.Length; ctr++)
    stackSpan[ctr] = data++;

int stackSum = 0;
foreach (var value in stackSpan)
    stackSum += value;

Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {stackSum}");
// Output:  The sum is 4950

    // Create a span on the stack.
    let mutable data = 0uy
    let stackSpan = 
        let p = NativeInterop.NativePtr.stackalloc<byte> 100 |> NativeInterop.NativePtr.toVoidPtr
        Span<byte>(p, 100)

    for i = 0 to stackSpan.Length - 1 do
        stackSpan[i] <- data
        data <- data + 1uy

    let mutable stackSum = 0
    for value in stackSpan do
        stackSum <- stackSum + int value

    printfn $"The sum is {stackSum}"
// Output:  The sum is 4950

Because Span<T> is an abstraction over an arbitrary block of memory, methods of the Span<T> type and methods with Span<T> parameters operate on any Span<T> object regardless of the kind of memory it encapsulates. For example, each of the separate sections of code that initialize the span and calculate the sum of its elements can be changed into single initialization and calculation methods, as the following example illustrates:

public static void WorkWithSpans()
{
    // Create a span over an array.
    var array = new byte[100];
    var arraySpan = new Span<byte>(array);

    InitializeSpan(arraySpan);
    Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {ComputeSum(arraySpan):N0}");

    // Create an array from native memory.
    var native = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(100);
    Span<byte> nativeSpan;
    unsafe
    {
        nativeSpan = new Span<byte>(native.ToPointer(), 100);
    }

    InitializeSpan(nativeSpan);
    Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {ComputeSum(nativeSpan):N0}");

    Marshal.FreeHGlobal(native);

    // Create a span on the stack.
    Span<byte> stackSpan = stackalloc byte[100];

    InitializeSpan(stackSpan);
    Console.WriteLine($"The sum is {ComputeSum(stackSpan):N0}");
}

public static void InitializeSpan(Span<byte> span)
{
    byte value = 0;
    for (int ctr = 0; ctr < span.Length; ctr++)
        span[ctr] = value++;
}

public static int ComputeSum(Span<byte> span)
{
    int sum = 0;
    foreach (var value in span)
        sum += value;

    return sum;
}
// The example displays the following output:
//    The sum is 4,950
//    The sum is 4,950
//    The sum is 4,950

open System
open System.Runtime.InteropServices
open FSharp.NativeInterop

// Package FSharp.NativeInterop.NativePtr.stackalloc for reuse.
let inline stackalloc<'a when 'a: unmanaged> length : Span<'a> =
    let voidPointer = NativePtr.stackalloc<'a> length |> NativePtr.toVoidPtr
    Span<'a>(voidPointer, length)

let initializeSpan (span: Span<byte>) =
    let mutable value = 0uy
    for i = 0 to span.Length - 1 do
        span[i] <- value
        value <- value + 1uy

let computeSum (span: Span<byte>) =
    let mutable sum = 0
    for value in span do
        sum <- sum + int value
    sum

let workWithSpans () =
    // Create a span over an array.
    let array = Array.zeroCreate<byte> 100
    let arraySpan = Span<byte> array

    initializeSpan arraySpan
    printfn $"The sum is {computeSum arraySpan:N0}"

    // Create an array from native memory.
    let native = Marshal.AllocHGlobal 100
    let nativeSpan = Span<byte>(native.ToPointer(), 100)

    initializeSpan nativeSpan
    printfn $"The sum is {computeSum nativeSpan:N0}"

    Marshal.FreeHGlobal native

    // Create a span on the stack.
    let stackSpan = stackalloc 100

    initializeSpan stackSpan
    printfn $"The sum is {computeSum stackSpan:N0}"

// The example displays the following output:
//    The sum is 4,950
//    The sum is 4,950
//    The sum is 4,950

Arrays

When it wraps an array, Span<T> can wrap an entire array, as it did in the examples in the Memory section. Because it supports slicing, Span<T> can also point to any contiguous range within the array.

The following example creates a slice of the middle five elements of a 10-element integer array. Note that the code doubles the values of each integer in the slice. As the output shows, the changes made by the span are reflected in the values of the array.

using System;

var array = new int[] { 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 };
var slice = new Span<int>(array, 2, 5);
for (int ctr = 0; ctr < slice.Length; ctr++)
    slice[ctr] *= 2;

// Examine the original array values.
foreach (var value in array)
    Console.Write($"{value}  ");
Console.WriteLine();

// The example displays the following output:
//      2  4  12  16  20  24  28  16  18  20

module Program

open System

[<EntryPoint>]
let main _ =
    let array = [| 2; 4; 6; 8; 10; 12; 14; 16; 18; 20 |]
    let slice = Span<int>(array, 2, 5)
    for i = 0 to slice.Length - 1 do
        slice[i] <- slice[i] * 2

    // Examine the original array values.
    for value in array do
        printf $"{value}  "
    printfn ""
    0
// The example displays the following output:
//      2  4  12  16  20  24  28  16  18  20

Slices

Span<T> includes two overloads of the Slice method that form a slice out of the current span that starts at a specified index. This makes it possible to treat the data in a Span<T> as a set of logical chunks that can be processed as needed by portions of a data processing pipeline with minimal performance impact. For example, since modern server protocols are often text-based, manipulation of strings and substrings is particularly important. In the String class, the major method for extracting substrings is Substring. For data pipelines that rely on extensive string manipulation, its use offers some performance penalties, since it:

Creates a new string to hold the substring.
Copies a subset of the characters from the original string to the new string.

This allocation and copy operation can be eliminated by using either Span<T> or ReadOnlySpan<T>, as the following example shows:

using System;

class Program2
{
    static void Run()
    {
        string contentLength = "Content-Length: 132";
        var length = GetContentLength(contentLength.ToCharArray());
        Console.WriteLine($"Content length: {length}");
    }

    private static int GetContentLength(ReadOnlySpan<char> span)
    {
        var slice = span.Slice(16);
        return int.Parse(slice);
    }
}
// Output:
//      Content length: 132

module Program2

open System

let getContentLength (span: ReadOnlySpan<char>) =
    let slice = span.Slice 16
    Int32.Parse slice

let contentLength = "Content-Length: 132"
let length = getContentLength (contentLength.ToCharArray())
printfn $"Content length: {length}"
// Output:
//      Content length: 132

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System.Span<T> struct

Memory

Arrays

Slices

Additional resources