# Objective
Other than the exposed functions for reading matched tables and
archetypes, a `QueryState` does not actually need both internal Vecs for
storing matched archetypes and tables. In practice, it will only use one
of the two depending on if it uses dense or archetypal iteration.
Same vein as #12474. The goal is to reduce the memory overhead of using
queries, which Bevy itself, ecosystem plugins, and end users are already
fairly liberally using.
## Solution
Add `StorageId`, which is a union over `TableId` and `ArchetypeId`, and
store only one of the two at runtime. Read the slice as if it was one ID
depending on whether the query is dense or not.
This follows in the same vein as #5085; however, this one directly
impacts heap memory usage at runtime, while #5085 primarily targeted
transient pointers that might not actually exist at runtime.
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## Changelog
Changed: `QueryState::matched_tables` now returns an iterator instead of
a reference to a slice.
Changed: `QueryState::matched_archetypes` now returns an iterator
instead of a reference to a slice.
## Migration Guide
`QueryState::matched_tables` and `QueryState::matched_archetypes` does
not return a reference to a slice, but an iterator instead. You may need
to use iterator combinators or collect them into a Vec to use it as a
slice.
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Co-authored-by: Alice Cecile <alice.i.cecile@gmail.com>