Skip to content

Add Memory utility library #5189

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
merged 27 commits into from
Jul 10, 2025
Merged
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
5 changes: 5 additions & 0 deletions .changeset/dull-students-eat.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
---
'openzeppelin-solidity': minor
---

`Memory`: Add library with utilities to manipulate memory
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions contracts/mocks/Stateless.sol
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ import {SignatureChecker} from "../utils/cryptography/SignatureChecker.sol";
import {SignedMath} from "../utils/math/SignedMath.sol";
import {StorageSlot} from "../utils/StorageSlot.sol";
import {Strings} from "../utils/Strings.sol";
import {Memory} from "../utils/Memory.sol";
import {Time} from "../utils/types/Time.sol";

contract Dummy1234 {}
44 changes: 44 additions & 0 deletions contracts/utils/Memory.sol
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

pragma solidity ^0.8.20;

/**
* @dev Utilities to manipulate memory.
*
* Memory is a contiguous and dynamic byte array in which Solidity stores non-primitive types.
* This library provides functions to manipulate pointers to this dynamic array.
*
* WARNING: When manipulating memory, make sure to follow the Solidity documentation
* guidelines for https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.20/assembly.html#memory-safety[Memory Safety].
*/
library Memory {
type Pointer is bytes32;

/// @dev Returns a `Pointer` to the current free `Pointer`.
function getFreeMemoryPointer() internal pure returns (Pointer ptr) {
assembly ("memory-safe") {
ptr := mload(0x40)
}
}

/**
* @dev Sets the free `Pointer` to a specific value.
*
* WARNING: Everything after the pointer may be overwritten.
**/
function setFreeMemoryPointer(Pointer ptr) internal pure {
assembly ("memory-safe") {
mstore(0x40, ptr)
}
}

/// @dev `Pointer` to `bytes32`. Expects a pointer to a properly ABI-encoded `bytes` object.
function asBytes32(Pointer ptr) internal pure returns (bytes32) {
return Pointer.unwrap(ptr);
}

/// @dev `bytes32` to `Pointer`. Expects a pointer to a properly ABI-encoded `bytes` object.
function asPointer(bytes32 value) internal pure returns (Pointer) {
return Pointer.wrap(value);
}
}
3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions contracts/utils/README.adoc
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ Miscellaneous contracts and libraries containing utility functions you can use t
* {Panic}: A library to revert with https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.20/control-structures.html#panic-via-assert-and-error-via-require[Solidity panic codes].
* {Comparators}: A library that contains comparator functions to use with the {Heap} library.
* {CAIP2}, {CAIP10}: Libraries for formatting and parsing CAIP-2 and CAIP-10 identifiers.
* {Memory}: A utility library to manipulate memory.
* {InteroperableAddress}: Library for formatting and parsing ERC-7930 interoperable addresses.
* {Blockhash}: A library for accessing historical block hashes beyond the standard 256 block limit utilizing EIP-2935's historical blockhash functionality.
* {Time}: A library that provides helpers for manipulating time-related objects, including a `Delay` type.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -135,6 +136,8 @@ Ethereum contracts have no native concept of an interface, so applications must

{{CAIP10}}

{{Memory}}

{{InteroperableAddress}}

{{Blockhash}}
Expand Down
34 changes: 33 additions & 1 deletion docs/modules/ROOT/pages/utilities.adoc
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ Some use cases require more powerful data structures than arrays and mappings of
- xref:api:utils.adoc#EnumerableSet[`EnumerableSet`]: A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(abstract_data_type)[set] with enumeration capabilities.
- xref:api:utils.adoc#EnumerableMap[`EnumerableMap`]: A `mapping` variant with enumeration capabilities.
- xref:api:utils.adoc#MerkleTree[`MerkleTree`]: An on-chain https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle_Tree[Merkle Tree] with helper functions.
- xref:api:utils.adoc#Heap.sol[`Heap`]: A
- xref:api:utils.adoc#Heap.sol[`Heap`]: A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_heap[binary heap] to store elements with priority defined by a compartor function.

The `Enumerable*` structures are similar to mappings in that they store and remove elements in constant time and don't allow for repeated entries, but they also support _enumeration_, which means you can easily query all stored entries both on and off-chain.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -461,6 +461,38 @@ await instance.multicall([
]);
----

=== Memory

The xref:api:utils.adoc#Memory[`Memory`] library provides functions for advanced use cases that require granular memory management. A common use case is to avoid unnecessary memory expansion costs when performing repeated operations that allocate memory in a loop. Consider the following example:

[source,solidity]
----
function processMultipleItems(uint256[] memory items) internal {
for (uint256 i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
bytes memory tempData = abi.encode(items[i], block.timestamp);
// Process tempData...
}
}
----

Note that each iteration allocates new memory for `tempData`, causing the memory to expand continuously. This can be optimized by resetting the memory pointer between iterations:

[source,solidity]
----
function processMultipleItems(uint256[] memory items) internal {
Memory.Pointer ptr = Memory.getFreeMemoryPointer(); // Cache pointer
for (uint256 i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
bytes memory tempData = abi.encode(items[i], block.timestamp);
// Process tempData...
Memory.setFreeMemoryPointer(ptr); // Reset pointer for reuse
}
}
----

This way, memory allocated for `tempData` in each iteration is reused, significantly reducing memory expansion costs when processing many items.

IMPORTANT: Only use these functions after carefully confirming they're necessary. By default, Solidity handles memory safely. Using this library without understanding memory layout and safety may be dangerous. See the https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.20/internals/layout_in_memory.html[memory layout] and https://docs.soliditylang.org/en/v0.8.20/assembly.html#memory-safety[memory safety] documentation for details.

=== Historical Block Hashes

xref:api:utils.adoc#Blockhash[`Blockhash`] provides L2 protocol developers with extended access to historical block hashes beyond Ethereum's native 256-block limit. By leveraging https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2935[EIP-2935]'s history storage contract, the library enables access to block hashes up to 8,191 blocks in the past, making it invaluable for L2 fraud proofs and state verification systems.
Expand Down
21 changes: 21 additions & 0 deletions test/utils/Memory.t.sol
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

pragma solidity ^0.8.20;

import {Test} from "forge-std/Test.sol";
import {Memory} from "@openzeppelin/contracts/utils/Memory.sol";

contract MemoryTest is Test {
using Memory for *;

// - first 0x80 bytes are reserved (scratch + FMP + zero)
uint256 constant START_PTR = 0x80;
// - moving the free memory pointer to far causes OOG errors
uint256 constant END_PTR = type(uint24).max;

function testGetsetFreeMemoryPointer(uint256 seed) public pure {
bytes32 ptr = bytes32(bound(seed, START_PTR, END_PTR));
ptr.asPointer().setFreeMemoryPointer();
assertEq(Memory.getFreeMemoryPointer().asBytes32(), ptr);
}
}
39 changes: 39 additions & 0 deletions test/utils/Memory.test.js
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
const { ethers } = require('hardhat');
const { expect } = require('chai');
const { loadFixture } = require('@nomicfoundation/hardhat-network-helpers');

async function fixture() {
const mock = await ethers.deployContract('$Memory');
return { mock };
}

describe('Memory', function () {
beforeEach(async function () {
Object.assign(this, await loadFixture(fixture));
});

describe('free pointer', function () {
it('sets free memory pointer', async function () {
const ptr = ethers.toBeHex(0xa0, 32);
await expect(this.mock.$setFreeMemoryPointer(ptr)).to.not.be.reverted;
});

it('gets free memory pointer', async function () {
await expect(this.mock.$getFreeMemoryPointer()).to.eventually.equal(
ethers.toBeHex(0x80, 32), // Default pointer
);
});
});

describe('pointer conversions', function () {
it('asBytes32', async function () {
const ptr = ethers.toBeHex('0x1234', 32);
await expect(this.mock.$asBytes32(ptr)).to.eventually.equal(ptr);
});

it('asPointer', async function () {
const ptr = ethers.toBeHex('0x1234', 32);
await expect(this.mock.$asPointer(ptr)).to.eventually.equal(ptr);
});
});
});