---
name: "CHI::Driver::RawMemory"
section: "3pm"
platform: "linux"
package: "libchi-perl"
version: "0.61-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/CHI::Driver::RawMemory"
---

# CHI::Driver::RawMemory(3pm)

In-process memory cache that stores direct references

## NAME

CHI::Driver::RawMemory - In-process memory cache that stores direct references

## VERSION

version 0.61

## SYNOPSIS

```
    use CHI;
    my $hash = {};
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'RawMemory', datastore => $hash );
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'RawMemory', global => 1 );
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'RawMemory', global => 0 );
```

## DESCRIPTION

This is a subclass of CHI::Driver::Memory that stores references to data structures directly instead of serializing / deserializing.  This makes the cache faster at getting and setting complex data structures, but unlike most drivers, modifications to the original data structure *will* affect the data structure stored in the cache, and vice versa. e.g.

```
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'Memory', global => 1 );
    my $lst = ['foo'];
    $cache->set('key' => $lst);   # serializes $lst before storing
    $cache->get('key');   # returns ['foo']
    $lst->[0] = 'bar';
    $cache->get('key');   # returns ['foo']
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'RawMemory', global => 1 );
    my $lst = ['foo'];
    $cache->set('key' => $lst);   # stores $lst directly
    $cache->get('key');   # returns ['foo']
    $lst->[0] = 'bar';
    $cache->get('key');   # returns ['bar']!
```

## CONSTRUCTOR OPTIONS

Same as CHI::Driver::Memory.

## SIZE AWARENESS

For the purpose of size-awareness, all items count as size 1 for this driver. (Because data structures are not serialized, there's no good way to determine their size.)

```
    # Keep a maximum of 10 items in cache
    #
    my $cache = CHI->new( driver => 'RawMemory', datastore => {}, max_size => 10 );
```

## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Yuval Kogman whose Cache::Ref inspired me to do this.

## SEE ALSO

CHI::Driver::Memory, CHI

## AUTHOR

Jonathan Swartz \<swartz@pobox.com\>

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2021 by Jonathan Swartz.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.