impl Arc::unwrap_or_clone

The function gets the inner value, cloning only if necessary.

Author: richard-uk1

library/alloc/src/sync.rs

@@ -1477,6 +1477,41 @@ impl<T: Clone> Arc<T> {
         // either unique to begin with, or became one upon cloning the contents.
         unsafe { Self::get_mut_unchecked(this) }
     }
+
+    /// If we have the only reference to `T` then unwrap it. Otherwise, clone `T` and return the
+    /// clone.
+    ///
+    /// Assuming `arc_t` is of type `Arc<T>`, this function is functionally equivalent to
+    /// `(*arc_t).clone()`, but will avoid cloning the inner value where possible.
+    ///
+    /// # Examples
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// #![feature(arc_unwrap_or_clone)]
+    /// # use std::{ptr, sync::Arc};
+    /// let inner = String::from("test");
+    /// let ptr = inner.as_ptr();
+    ///
+    /// let arc = Arc::new(inner);
+    /// let inner = Arc::unwrap_or_clone(arc);
+    /// // The inner value was not cloned
+    /// assert!(ptr::eq(ptr, inner.as_ptr()));
+    ///
+    /// let arc = Arc::new(inner);
+    /// let arc2 = arc.clone();
+    /// let inner = Arc::unwrap_or_clone(arc);
+    /// // Because there were 2 references, we had to clone the inner value.
+    /// assert!(!ptr::eq(ptr, inner.as_ptr()));
+    /// // `arc2` is the last reference, so when we unwrap it we get back
+    /// // the original `String`.
+    /// let inner = Arc::unwrap_or_clone(arc2);
+    /// assert!(ptr::eq(ptr, inner.as_ptr()));
+    /// ```
+    #[inline]
+    #[unstable(feature = "arc_unwrap_or_clone", issue = "none")]
+    pub fn unwrap_or_clone(this: Self) -> T {
+        Arc::try_unwrap(this).unwrap_or_else(|arc| (*arc).clone())
+    }
 }
 
 impl<T: ?Sized> Arc<T> {