Make Path parts sentinel terminated

This means Entity.init doesn't need to allocate.

src/entity.zig

@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ pub fn Entity(comptime ctx: anytype) type {
             // Set to modify an existing entity.
             id: ?Self = null,
             /// Set to specify the entity's name.
-            name: ?[]const u8 = null,
+            name: ?[:0]const u8 = null,
             /// Set to specify the entity's symbol.
-            symbol: ?[]const u8 = null,
+            symbol: ?[:0]const u8 = null,
             /// Whether to use a small id when generating one.
             /// These are typically reserved for components.
             use_low_id: bool = false,
@@ -95,9 +95,6 @@ pub fn Entity(comptime ctx: anytype) type {
             var name = config.name;
             var scope = if (config.parent) |p| p.raw else null;
 
-            // TODO: Use an allocator that's well-fitted for super short-lived allocations.
-            const alloc = flecs.allocator;
-
             if (config.path) |path| {
                 if (path.absolute) {
                     // Specifying parent with an absolute path is invalid.
@@ -131,11 +128,9 @@ pub fn Entity(comptime ctx: anytype) type {
                             scope = found;
                         },
                         .name => |n| {
-                            const nameZ = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, n);
+                            const found = c.ecs_lookup_child(world.raw, parent, n.ptr);
-                            defer alloc.free(nameZ);
-                            const found = c.ecs_lookup_child(world.raw, parent, nameZ.ptr);
                             if (found == 0) {
-                                var desc = std.mem.zeroInit(c.ecs_entity_desc_t, .{ .sep = "".ptr, .name = nameZ.ptr });
+                                var desc = std.mem.zeroInit(c.ecs_entity_desc_t, .{ .sep = "".ptr, .name = n.ptr });
                                 desc.add[0] = c.ecs_pair(c.EcsChildOf, parent);
                                 scope = c.ecs_entity_init(world.raw, &desc);
                                 if (scope == 0) return err.getLastErrorOrUnknown();
@@ -150,16 +145,11 @@ pub fn Entity(comptime ctx: anytype) type {
             const previous = if (scope) |s| world.setScope(s) else null;
             defer _ = if (scope != null) world.setScope(previous);
 
-            const nameZ = if (name) |n| try alloc.dupeZ(u8, n) else null;
-            defer if (nameZ) |n| alloc.free(n);
-            const symbolZ = if (config.symbol) |s| try alloc.dupeZ(u8, s) else null;
-            defer if (symbolZ) |s| alloc.free(s);
-
             var desc = std.mem.zeroInit(c.ecs_entity_desc_t, .{
                 .sep = "".ptr, // Disable tokenization.
                 .id = if (id) |i| i else 0,
-                .name = if (nameZ) |n| n.ptr else null,
+                .name = if (name) |n| n.ptr else null,
-                .symbol = if (symbolZ) |s| s.ptr else null,
+                .symbol = if (config.symbol) |s| s.ptr else null,
                 .use_low_id = config.use_low_id,
             });
 

src/path.zig

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ pub const Path = struct {
     /// Represents an `Entity` in a `Path`, either by name or its numeric id.
     pub const EntityPart = union(enum) {
         id: u32,
-        name: []const u8,
+        name: [:0]const u8,
     };
 
     /// Format used to parse and stringify `Path`s.
@@ -62,32 +62,29 @@ pub const Path = struct {
     /// to this function, as they aren't cloned and ownership stays the same.
     /// In many cases, the lifetime of `Path`s is relatively short. When this
     /// is not the case, it's recommended to `.clone()` the path after creation.
-    pub fn buildParts(parts: anytype) t: {
+    pub fn buildParts(parts: anytype) [numElements(parts)]EntityPart {
-        if (!std.meta.trait.isTuple(@TypeOf(parts)))
+        if (comptime !std.meta.trait.isTuple(@TypeOf(parts)))
             @compileError("Expected tuple, got '" ++ @typeName(@TypeOf(parts)) ++ "'");
-        const len = @typeInfo(@TypeOf(parts)).Struct.fields.len;
+        var result: [numElements(parts)]EntityPart = undefined;
-        break :t [len]EntityPart;
-    } {
-        const len = @typeInfo(@TypeOf(parts)).Struct.fields.len;
-        var result: [len]EntityPart = undefined;
         inline for (&result, parts) |*res, part| {
-            const msg = "Expected '[]const u8' or 'u32', got '" ++ @typeName(@TypeOf(part)) ++ "'";
+            res.* = if (comptime std.meta.trait.isZigString(@TypeOf(part)))
-            res.* = switch (@typeInfo(@TypeOf(part))) {
+                .{ .name = part }
-                .Pointer => |p| switch (p.size) {
+            else switch (@typeInfo(@TypeOf(part))) {
-                    .One => switch (@typeInfo(p.child)) {
-                        .Array => |a| if (a.child == u8) .{ .name = part } else @compileError(msg),
-                        else => @compileError(msg),
-                    },
-                    .Slice => if (p.child == u8) .{ .name = part } else @compileError(msg),
-                    else => @compileError(msg),
-                },
                 .Int, .ComptimeInt => .{ .id = part },
-                else => @compileError(msg),
+                else => @compileError("Expected '[:0]const u8' or 'u32', got '" ++ @typeName(@TypeOf(part)) ++ "'"),
             };
         }
         return result;
     }
 
+    /// Returns the number of elements of the specified tuple type.
+    fn numElements(parts: anytype) usize {
+        return if (comptime std.meta.trait.isTuple(@TypeOf(parts)))
+            @typeInfo(@TypeOf(parts)).Struct.fields.len
+        else
+            0;
+    }
+
     /// Creates a new `Path` from the specified parts.
     ///
     /// The resulting path does not own any of the given slices.
@@ -103,8 +100,9 @@ pub const Path = struct {
     /// resulting path will be absolute. The rest of the string will be split
     /// by the specified seperator, becoming its parts.
     ///
-    /// The parts array will be allocated with the specified `Allocator` and is
+    /// This function will allocate duplicate strings taken from the specified
-    /// owned by the resulting path. `deinit()` must be called to free it.
+    /// source `path`, to ensure they are sentinel-terminated. The resulting
+    /// `Path` takes ownership of these.
     pub fn fromString(path: []const u8, options: ?FormatOptions, alloc: Allocator) !Path {
         if (path.len == 0) return error.MustNotBeEmpty;
         const opt = options orelse FormatOptions.default;
@@ -129,13 +127,14 @@ pub const Path = struct {
             parts[i] = if (parseNumericId(str)) |id|
                 .{ .id = id }
             else
-                .{ .name = str };
+                .{ .name = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, str) };
 
         return .{
             .absolute = absolute,
             .parts = parts,
             .alloc = alloc,
             .owns_array = true,
+            .owns_parts = true,
         };
     }
 
@@ -202,7 +201,7 @@ pub const Path = struct {
 
         for (parts) |*part| {
             if (part.* == .name)
-                part.* = .{ .name = try alloc.dupe(u8, part.name) };
+                part.* = .{ .name = try alloc.dupeZ(u8, part.name) };
             num_allocated += 1;
         }