diff --git a/manifest b/manifest
index bfa5d8e376..b3b35b83e2 100644
--- a/manifest
+++ b/manifest
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-C Performance\sincrease\sin\sthe\sloop\sthat\sfrees\san\sopcode\sarray.
-D 2022-03-28T15:06:36.675
+C Slightly\ssmaller\sand\sfaster\ssqlite3VdbeMemSetStr().
+D 2022-03-28T17:34:46.798
 F .fossil-settings/empty-dirs dbb81e8fc0401ac46a1491ab34a7f2c7c0452f2f06b54ebb845d024ca8283ef1
 F .fossil-settings/ignore-glob 35175cdfcf539b2318cb04a9901442804be81cd677d8b889fcc9149c21f239ea
 F LICENSE.md df5091916dbb40e6e9686186587125e1b2ff51f022cc334e886c19a0e9982724
@@ -630,7 +630,7 @@ F src/vdbeInt.h 8dd91427155a38ec06e9ecbde07e33f21bc02e101625191e7613f883e379a363
 F src/vdbeapi.c bc3812dff7c9e6497c87ae86962818a51f66f8d7a873e7ec02a22aa115b84799
 F src/vdbeaux.c 1de06d17a1af1bf5cc776e60afcc01c49438df90863fc4db0a0516060e7b959a
 F src/vdbeblob.c 5e61ce31aca17db8fb60395407457a8c1c7fb471dde405e0cd675974611dcfcd
-F src/vdbemem.c 57fceb4ed6aac960e9517c963dc0668189e8b7c8e6216d257030a2f5e9a583df
+F src/vdbemem.c 4fdef7b1dadb7073ea6c20f366f84cce5e01f8795317d4fd55cf2c9d6e5febf4
 F src/vdbesort.c 43756031ca7430f7aec3ef904824a7883c4ede783e51f280d99b9b65c0796e35
 F src/vdbetrace.c fe0bc29ebd4e02c8bc5c1945f1d2e6be5927ec12c06d89b03ef2a4def34bf823
 F src/vdbevtab.c f99b275366c5fc5e2d99f734729880994ab9500bdafde7fae3b02d562b9d323c
@@ -1945,8 +1945,8 @@ F vsixtest/vsixtest.tcl 6a9a6ab600c25a91a7acc6293828957a386a8a93
 F vsixtest/vsixtest.vcxproj.data 2ed517e100c66dc455b492e1a33350c1b20fbcdc
 F vsixtest/vsixtest.vcxproj.filters 37e51ffedcdb064aad6ff33b6148725226cd608e
 F vsixtest/vsixtest_TemporaryKey.pfx e5b1b036facdb453873e7084e1cae9102ccc67a0
-P daa924af987253345bdb1c71b13378681bd252521e94d01f5d4629601232c352
-R 3f80c1c90cf9e3dfa7b095bf09b6a361
+P 4ccebb86aae178dbce905d782f04d98211f8fce9aacd71c12b8694c92a4f5c40
+R d5c1e4092f171ba4e7d9a62fbfe55090
 U drh
-Z b8e292382fc35254c1fc18d26e049666
+Z 6eb24c52f69c2c05bf470575314084b5
 # Remove this line to create a well-formed Fossil manifest.
diff --git a/manifest.uuid b/manifest.uuid
index c22cb673ca..33159274fb 100644
--- a/manifest.uuid
+++ b/manifest.uuid
@@ -1 +1 @@
-4ccebb86aae178dbce905d782f04d98211f8fce9aacd71c12b8694c92a4f5c40
\ No newline at end of file
+06928e745c7bcb26ec46a17989f30efe3536fd48a74c8a1cd423cc9ff6feccb5
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/vdbemem.c b/src/vdbemem.c
index 516a06b71e..b41b13e2f5 100644
--- a/src/vdbemem.c
+++ b/src/vdbemem.c
@@ -1107,6 +1107,13 @@ void sqlite3VdbeMemMove(Mem *pTo, Mem *pFrom){
 ** stored without allocating memory, then it is.  If a memory allocation
 ** is required to store the string, then value of pMem is unchanged.  In
 ** either case, SQLITE_TOOBIG is returned.
+**
+** The "enc" parameter is the text encoding for the string, or zero
+** to store a blob.
+**
+** If n is negative, then the string consists of all bytes up to but
+** excluding the first zero character.  The n parameter must be
+** non-negative for blobs.
 */
 int sqlite3VdbeMemSetStr(
   Mem *pMem,          /* Memory cell to set to string value */
@@ -1122,6 +1129,7 @@ int sqlite3VdbeMemSetStr(
   assert( pMem!=0 );
   assert( pMem->db==0 || sqlite3_mutex_held(pMem->db->mutex) );
   assert( !sqlite3VdbeMemIsRowSet(pMem) );
+  assert( enc!=0 || n>=0 );
 
   /* If z is a NULL pointer, set pMem to contain an SQL NULL. */
   if( !z ){
@@ -1134,7 +1142,6 @@ int sqlite3VdbeMemSetStr(
   }else{
     iLimit = SQLITE_MAX_LENGTH;
   }
-  flags = (enc==0?MEM_Blob:MEM_Str);
   if( nByte<0 ){
     assert( enc!=0 );
     if( enc==SQLITE_UTF8 ){
@@ -1142,7 +1149,9 @@ int sqlite3VdbeMemSetStr(
     }else{
       for(nByte=0; nByte<=iLimit && (z[nByte] | z[nByte+1]); nByte+=2){}
     }
-    flags |= MEM_Term;
+    flags|= MEM_Str|MEM_Term;
+  }else{
+    flags = (enc==0?MEM_Blob:MEM_Str);
   }
 
   /* The following block sets the new values of Mem.z and Mem.xDel. It