CODEWITHSUNDEEP
delphiparameterspass-by-reference
Rob Kennedy
Rob Kennedy

Reputation: 163347

What's the difference between "var" and "out" parameters?

What's the difference between parameters declared with var and those declared with out? How does the compiler treat them differently (e.g., by generating different code, or by changing which diagnostics it issues)? Or do the different modifiers merely allow the programmer to document intended use of the parameters? What effect do the types of the parameters have on the matter?

Upvotes: 61

Views: 27790

Answers (4)

Shadab Mozaffar
Shadab Mozaffar

Reputation: 119

I read earlier that out parameter is set to default by called function, but today I realized that it is not completely true. Value of out parameter is discarded by called routine, but if that routine does not change its value, caller can still get it initial value, which was assigned before passing to called thread.

For example:

procedure JustNothing(out x : integer);
begin
  // do nothing
end;

procedure TestOutVar;
var i : Integer;
begin
  i := 100;
  JustNothing(i); // after this call, i will still be 100
end;

Upvotes: 1

Steve
Steve

Reputation: 1875

Slightly late but just for the record, I came across a case where var or out made a big difference.

I was working on a SOAP web service which exported the following method:

function GetUser( out User :TUser ) :TResult;

which was getting imported into C# as the equivalent of

function GetUser( out Result :TResult) :TUser;

when I changed the out to a var it it imported correctly.

I'm guessing that the Delphi SOAP invoker treats the function result as an out parameter and that having two out parameters confuses the Delphi SOAP routines. I'm not sure if there is a workaround to allow you to use out parameters.

Upvotes: 2

NGLN
NGLN

Reputation: 43669

There is not much difference, for the compiler that is. See Mason's answer for that.

Semantically, there is a big difference:

  • var tells the programmer that the routine could work with its current value,
  • out tells the programmer that the routine will ignore/discard its current value.

Upvotes: 13

Mason Wheeler
Mason Wheeler

Reputation: 84650

A var parameter will be passed by reference, and that's it.

An out parameter is also passed by reference, but it's assumed that the input value is irrelevant. For managed types, (strings, Interfaces, etc,) the compiler will enforce this, by clearing the variable before the routine begins, equivalent to writing param := nil. For unmanaged types, the compiler implements out identically to var.

Note that the clearing of a managed parameter is performed at the call-site and so the code generated for the function does not vary with out or var parameters.

Upvotes: 55

Related Questions