Introduce a flag that skips tag duplicate removal logic

engine.go

@@ -29,6 +29,12 @@ type Engine struct {
 	// that manipulates this field directly has to respect this requirement.
 	Tags []Tag
 
+	// Indicates whether to allow duplicated tags from the tags list before sending.
+	// This option is turned off by default, ensuring that duplicate tags are removed.
+	// Turn it on if you need to send the same tag multiple times with different values,
+	// which is a special use case.
+	AllowDuplicateTags bool
+
 	// This cache keeps track of the generated measure structures to avoid
 	// rebuilding them every time a same measure type is seen by the engine.
 	//
@@ -148,7 +154,7 @@ func (eng *Engine) measure(t time.Time, name string, value interface{}, ftype Fi
 	m.Tags = append(m.Tags[:0], eng.Tags...)
 	m.Tags = append(m.Tags, tags...)
 
-	if len(tags) != 0 && !TagsAreSorted(m.Tags) {
+	if len(tags) != 0 && !eng.AllowDuplicateTags && !TagsAreSorted(m.Tags) {
 		SortTags(m.Tags)
 	}
 
@@ -192,7 +198,9 @@ func (eng *Engine) ReportAt(time time.Time, metrics interface{}, tags ...Tag) {
 		tb = tagsPool.Get().(*tagsBuffer)
 		tb.append(tags...)
 		tb.append(eng.Tags...)
-		tb.sort()
+		if !eng.AllowDuplicateTags {
+			tb.sort()
+		}
 		tags = tb.tags
 	}
 

engine_test.go

@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ func TestEngine(t *testing.T) {
 			scenario: "calling Engine.WithTags produces expected tags",
 			function: testEngineWithTags,
 		},
+		{
+			scenario: "calling Engine.Incr produces expected tags when AllowDuplicateTags is set",
+			function: testEngineAllowDuplicateTags,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, test := range tests {
@@ -126,6 +130,29 @@ func testEngineFlush(t *testing.T, eng *stats.Engine) {
 	}
 }
 
+func testEngineAllowDuplicateTags(t *testing.T, eng *stats.Engine) {
+	e2 := eng.WithTags()
+	e2.AllowDuplicateTags = true
+	if e2.Prefix != "test" {
+		t.Error("bad prefix:", e2.Prefix)
+	}
+	e2.Incr("measure.count")
+	e2.Incr("measure.count", stats.T("category", "a"), stats.T("category", "b"), stats.T("category", "c"))
+
+	checkMeasuresEqual(t, e2,
+		stats.Measure{
+			Name:   "test.measure",
+			Fields: []stats.Field{stats.MakeField("count", 1, stats.Counter)},
+			Tags:   []stats.Tag{stats.T("service", "test-service")},
+		},
+		stats.Measure{
+			Name:   "test.measure",
+			Fields: []stats.Field{stats.MakeField("count", 1, stats.Counter)},
+			Tags:   []stats.Tag{stats.T("service", "test-service"), stats.T("category", "a"), stats.T("category", "b"), stats.T("category", "c")},
+		},
+	)
+}
+
 func testEngineIncr(t *testing.T, eng *stats.Engine) {
 	eng.Incr("measure.count")
 	eng.Incr("measure.count", stats.T("type", "testing"))

tag.go

@@ -38,10 +38,9 @@ func TagsAreSorted(tags []Tag) bool {
 	return slices.IsSortedFunc(tags, tagCompare)
 }
 
-// SortTags sorts and deduplicates tags in-place,
-// favoring later elements whenever a tag name duplicate occurs.
-// The returned slice may be shorter than the input
-// due to the elimination of duplicates.
+// SortTags sorts and deduplicates tags in-place, favoring later elements
+// whenever a tag name duplicate occurs. The returned slice may be shorter than
+// the input due to the elimination of duplicates.
 func SortTags(tags []Tag) []Tag {
 	// Stable sort ensures that we have deterministic
 	// "latest wins" deduplication.