# Duplicate

Duplicates an object - either shallow or deep

## Method Signature

```
Duplicate(object=[any], deep=[boolean])
```

### Arguments

| Argument | Type      | Required | Description                                                                                       | Default |
| -------- | --------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- |
| `object` | `any`     | `true`   | Any object to duplicate                                                                           |         |
| `deep`   | `boolean` | `false`  | Whether to deep copy the object or make a shallow copy (e.g. only the top level keys in a struct) | `true`  |

## Examples

### Changing a struct compared to changing its copy

`myNewStruct` holds a reference to `myStruct` so if you change `myNewStruct`, `myStruct` is changed accordingly as well, because they are the same struct just assigned to two variables. In comparison `myOtherNewStruct` is a copy so if you change `myOtherNewStruct`, `myStruct` stays untouched because with the duplicate, a new, unique structure with the same key-value pairs is created thus they do not share the same reference

[Run Example](https://try.boxlang.io/?code=eJzLrQwuKSpNLlGwVahW4OJUSsvPV1KwUlDyyS9KzVXILCguzVXSAYonJRaBxZMSq5S4aq25civ9UsvhWnOhpoDE%2FUsyUouQJVNKC3IykxNLUjXg6hQ0UUzQc%2FP3BypUSszITS1RKC7NU8I0CKYmJT8nv0ihOLMEqKa8KLMk1b%2B0pKC0BGE2WKGagpLCo7ZJQFJNAd0iVDkstgAdBwDc31vf)

```java
myStruct = { 
	"foo" : "Lorem ipsum",
	"bar" : "baz"
};
myNewStruct = myStruct;
myOtherNewStruct = duplicate( myStruct );
myNewStruct.FOO = "ahmet sun";
myOtherNewStruct.FOO = "dolor sit";
writeOutput( myStruct.FOO & " → " & myNewStruct.FOO & " → " & myOtherNewStruct.FOO );

```

Result: ahmet sun → ahmet sun → dolor sit

### Additional Examples

[Run Example](https://try.boxlang.io/?code=eJwrSC0qzs9TsFWoVuDidPMMCg5RsFJQckpMSlXS4eL0cYTwg0pLMpS4aq25UkpzCzQUCiCaNK0V9PUVQGoVQAq4knPy81KBRqWUFuRkJieWpCKphOqEKEHXCFGlB7bNVkEpODcTaB1uy8DyaAZyoZoIAKLOP%2BU%3D)

```java
person = { 
	FIRST : "Babe",
	LAST : "Ruth"
};
dump( person ); // Babe Ruth
clone = duplicate( person );
dump( clone ); // Babe Ruth
person.LAST = "Smith";
dump( person ); // Babe Smith
dump( clone );
 // Babe Ruth

```

## Related

* [ApplicationRestart](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/applicationrestart.md)
* [ApplicationStartTime](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/applicationstarttime.md)
* [ApplicationStop](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/applicationstop.md)
* [BoxAnnounce](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxannounce.md)
* [BoxAnnounceAsync](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxannounceasync.md)
* [BoxAST](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxast.md)
* [BoxModuleReload](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxmodulereload.md)
* [BoxRegisterInterceptionPoints](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxregisterinterceptionpoints.md)
* [BoxRegisterInterceptor](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxregisterinterceptor.md)
* [BoxRegisterRequestInterceptor](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxregisterrequestinterceptor.md)
* [BoxUnregisterInterceptor](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxunregisterinterceptor.md)
* [BoxUnregisterRequestInterceptor](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/boxunregisterrequestinterceptor.md)
* [CallStackGet](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/callstackget.md)
* [CreateGUID](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/createguid.md)
* [CreateObject](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/createobject.md)
* [CreateUUID](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/createuuid.md)
* [DE](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/de.md)
* [DebugBoxContexts](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/debugboxcontexts.md)
* [Dump](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/dump.md)
* [echo](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/echo.md)
* [EncodeForHTML](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/encodeforhtml.md)
* [GetApplicationMetadata](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getapplicationmetadata.md)
* [GetBaseTagData](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getbasetagdata.md)
* [GetBaseTagList](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getbasetaglist.md)
* [GetBaseTemplatePath](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getbasetemplatepath.md)
* [GetBoxContext](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getboxcontext.md)
* [GetBoxRuntime](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getboxruntime.md)
* [GetBoxVersionInfo](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getboxversioninfo.md)
* [GetClassMetadata](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getclassmetadata.md)
* [GetComponentList](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getcomponentlist.md)
* [GetContextRoot](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getcontextroot.md)
* [GetCurrentTemplatePath](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getcurrenttemplatepath.md)
* [GetFileFromPath](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getfilefrompath.md)
* [GetFunctionCalledName](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getfunctioncalledname.md)
* [GetFunctionList](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getfunctionlist.md)
* [GetModuleInfo](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getmoduleinfo.md)
* [GetModuleList](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getmodulelist.md)
* [GetRequestClassLoader](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getrequestclassloader.md)
* [GetSemver](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getsemver.md)
* [GetSystemSetting](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/getsystemsetting.md)
* [GetTempDirectory](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/gettempdirectory.md)
* [GetTickCount](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/gettickcount.md)
* [htmlEditFormat](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/htmleditformat.md)
* [IIF](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/iif.md)
* [Invoke](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/invoke.md)
* [IsInstanceOf](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/isinstanceof.md)
* [JavaCast](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/javacast.md)
* [ObjectDeserialize](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/objectdeserialize.md)
* [ObjectSerialize](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/objectserialize.md)
* [PagePoolClear](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/pagepoolclear.md)
* [Print](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/print.md)
* [Println](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/println.md)
* [RunThreadInContext](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/runthreadincontext.md)
* [SessionInvalidate](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/sessioninvalidate.md)
* [SessionRotate](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/sessionrotate.md)
* [SessionStartTime](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/sessionstarttime.md)
* [Sleep](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/sleep.md)
* [SystemCacheClear](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/systemcacheclear.md)
* [SystemExecute](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/systemexecute.md)
* [SystemOutput](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/systemoutput.md)
* [Throw](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/throw.md)
* [Trace](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/trace.md)
* [URLDecode](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/urldecode.md)
* [URLEncodedFormat](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/urlencodedformat.md)
* [writeDump](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/writedump.md)
* [WriteLog](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/writelog.md)
* [WriteOutput](/boxlang-language/reference/built-in-functions/system/writeoutput.md)


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