Maximum Size of Arrays

Rhai by default does not limit how large an array or a BLOB can be.

This can be changed via the Engine::set_max_array_size method, with zero being unlimited (the default).

A script attempting to create an array literal larger than the maximum will terminate with a parse error.

Any script operation that produces an array or a BLOB larger than the maximum also terminates the script with an error result.

This check can be disabled via the unchecked feature for higher performance (but higher risks as well).

let mut engine = Engine::new();

engine.set_max_array_size(500);     // allow arrays only up to 500 items

engine.set_max_array_size(0);       // allow unlimited arrays

Maximum size

Be conservative when setting a maximum limit and always consider the fact that a registered function may grow an array’s or BLOB’s size without Rhai noticing until the very end.

For instance, the built-in + operator for arrays and BLOB’s concatenates two of them together to form one larger array or BLOB; if both sources are slightly below the maximum size limit, the result may be almost twice the maximum size.

As a malicious script may also create a deeply-nested array which consumes huge amounts of memory while each individual array still stays under the maximum size limit, Rhai also recursively adds up the sizes of all strings, arrays, [blobs] and object maps contained within each array to make sure that the aggregate sizes of none of these data structures exceed their respective maximum size limits (if any).

// Small, innocent array...
let small_array = [42];             // 1-deep... 1 item, 1 array

// ... becomes huge when multiplied!
small_array.push(small_array);      // 2-deep... 2 items, 2 arrays
small_array.push(small_array);      // 3-deep... 4 items, 4 arrays
small_array.push(small_array);      // 4-deep... 8 items, 8 arrays
small_array.push(small_array);      // 5-deep... 16 items, 16 arrays
          :
          :
small_array.push(small_array);      // <- Rhai raises an error somewhere here
small_array.push(small_array);      //    when the TOTAL number of items in
small_array.push(small_array);      //    the entire array tree exceeds limit

// Or this abomination...
let a = [ 42 ];

loop {
    a[0] = a;       // <- only 1 item, but infinite number of arrays
}