512 lines
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512 lines
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<ol class="chapter"><li class="expanded affix "><a href="title-page.html">The Rust Programming Language</a></li><li class="expanded affix "><a href="foreword.html">Foreword</a></li><li class="expanded affix "><a href="ch00-00-introduction.html">Introduction</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-00-getting-started.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> Getting Started</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-01-installation.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.1.</strong> Installation</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-02-hello-world.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.2.</strong> Hello, World!</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch01-03-hello-cargo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.3.</strong> Hello, Cargo!</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch02-00-guessing-game-tutorial.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> Programming a Guessing Game</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-00-common-programming-concepts.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Common Programming Concepts</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-01-variables-and-mutability.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.1.</strong> Variables and Mutability</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-02-data-types.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.2.</strong> Data Types</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-03-how-functions-work.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.3.</strong> Functions</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-04-comments.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.4.</strong> Comments</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch03-05-control-flow.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.5.</strong> Control Flow</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-00-understanding-ownership.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Understanding Ownership</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-01-what-is-ownership.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.1.</strong> What is Ownership?</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-02-references-and-borrowing.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.</strong> References and Borrowing</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch04-03-slices.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.</strong> The Slice Type</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-00-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Using Structs to Structure Related Data</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-01-defining-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.</strong> Defining and Instantiating Structs</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-02-example-structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.2.</strong> An Example Program Using Structs</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch05-03-method-syntax.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.3.</strong> Method Syntax</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-00-enums.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Enums and Pattern Matching</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-01-defining-an-enum.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.1.</strong> Defining an Enum</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-02-match.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.</strong> The match Control Flow Operator</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch06-03-if-let.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.3.</strong> Concise Control Flow with if let</a></li></ol></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-00-managing-growing-projects-with-packages-crates-and-modules.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Managing Growing Projects with Packages, Crates, and Modules</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-01-packages-and-crates.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.1.</strong> Packages and Crates</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-02-defining-modules-to-control-scope-and-privacy.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.2.</strong> Defining Modules to Control Scope and Privacy</a></li><li class="expanded "><a href="ch07-03-paths-for-referring-to-an-item-in-the-modu
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<main>
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<h2><a class="header" href="#references-and-borrowing" id="references-and-borrowing">References and Borrowing</a></h2>
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<p>The issue with the tuple code in Listing 4-5 is that we have to return the
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<code>String</code> to the calling function so we can still use the <code>String</code> after the
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call to <code>calculate_length</code>, because the <code>String</code> was moved into
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<code>calculate_length</code>.</p>
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<p>Here is how you would define and use a <code>calculate_length</code> function that has a
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reference to an object as a parameter instead of taking ownership of the
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value:</p>
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<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
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let s1 = String::from("hello");
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let len = calculate_length(&s1);
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println!("The length of '{}' is {}.", s1, len);
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}
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fn calculate_length(s: &String) -> usize {
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s.len()
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}
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</code></pre></pre>
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<p>First, notice that all the tuple code in the variable declaration and the
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function return value is gone. Second, note that we pass <code>&s1</code> into
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<code>calculate_length</code> and, in its definition, we take <code>&String</code> rather than
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<code>String</code>.</p>
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<p>These ampersands are <em>references</em>, and they allow you to refer to some value
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without taking ownership of it. Figure 4-5 shows a diagram.</p>
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<img alt="&String s pointing at String s1" src="img/trpl04-05.svg" class="center" />
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<p><span class="caption">Figure 4-5: A diagram of <code>&String s</code> pointing at <code>String s1</code></span></p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>Note: The opposite of referencing by using <code>&</code> is <em>dereferencing</em>, which is
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accomplished with the dereference operator, <code>*</code>. We’ll see some uses of the
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dereference operator in Chapter 8 and discuss details of dereferencing in
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Chapter 15.</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Let’s take a closer look at the function call here:</p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
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<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
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</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
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</span><span class="boring">fn calculate_length(s: &String) -> usize {
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</span><span class="boring"> s.len()
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</span><span class="boring">}
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</span>let s1 = String::from("hello");
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let len = calculate_length(&s1);
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<span class="boring">}
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</span></code></pre></pre>
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<p>The <code>&s1</code> syntax lets us create a reference that <em>refers</em> to the value of <code>s1</code>
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but does not own it. Because it does not own it, the value it points to will
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not be dropped when the reference goes out of scope.</p>
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<p>Likewise, the signature of the function uses <code>&</code> to indicate that the type of
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the parameter <code>s</code> is a reference. Let’s add some explanatory annotations:</p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
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<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
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</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
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</span>fn calculate_length(s: &String) -> usize { // s is a reference to a String
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s.len()
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} // Here, s goes out of scope. But because it does not have ownership of what
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// it refers to, nothing happens.
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<span class="boring">}
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</span></code></pre></pre>
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<p>The scope in which the variable <code>s</code> is valid is the same as any function
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parameter’s scope, but we don’t drop what the reference points to when it goes
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out of scope because we don’t have ownership. When functions have references as
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parameters instead of the actual values, we won’t need to return the values in
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order to give back ownership, because we never had ownership.</p>
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<p>We call having references as function parameters <em>borrowing</em>. As in real life,
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if a person owns something, you can borrow it from them. When you’re done, you
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have to give it back.</p>
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<p>So what happens if we try to modify something we’re borrowing? Try the code in
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Listing 4-6. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work!</p>
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<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore does_not_compile">fn main() {
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let s = String::from("hello");
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change(&s);
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}
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fn change(some_string: &String) {
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some_string.push_str(", world");
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}
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</code></pre>
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<p><span class="caption">Listing 4-6: Attempting to modify a borrowed value</span></p>
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<p>Here’s the error:</p>
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<pre><code class="language-text">error[E0596]: cannot borrow immutable borrowed content `*some_string` as mutable
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--> error.rs:8:5
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7 | fn change(some_string: &String) {
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| ------- use `&mut String` here to make mutable
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8 | some_string.push_str(", world");
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| ^^^^^^^^^^^ cannot borrow as mutable
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</code></pre>
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<p>Just as variables are immutable by default, so are references. We’re not
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allowed to modify something we have a reference to.</p>
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<h3><a class="header" href="#mutable-references" id="mutable-references">Mutable References</a></h3>
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<p>We can fix the error in the code from Listing 4-6 with just a small tweak:</p>
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<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
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<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">fn main() {
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let mut s = String::from("hello");
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change(&mut s);
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}
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fn change(some_string: &mut String) {
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some_string.push_str(", world");
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}
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</code></pre></pre>
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<p>First, we had to change <code>s</code> to be <code>mut</code>. Then we had to create a mutable
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reference with <code>&mut s</code> and accept a mutable reference with <code>some_string: &mut String</code>.</p>
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<p>But mutable references have one big restriction: you can have only one mutable
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reference to a particular piece of data in a particular scope. This code will
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fail:</p>
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<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
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<pre><code class="language-rust ignore does_not_compile">let mut s = String::from("hello");
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let r1 = &mut s;
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let r2 = &mut s;
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println!("{}, {}", r1, r2);
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</code></pre>
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<p>Here’s the error:</p>
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<pre><code class="language-text">error[E0499]: cannot borrow `s` as mutable more than once at a time
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--> src/main.rs:5:14
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4 | let r1 = &mut s;
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| ------ first mutable borrow occurs here
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5 | let r2 = &mut s;
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| ^^^^^^ second mutable borrow occurs here
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6 |
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7 | println!("{}, {}", r1, r2);
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| -- first borrow later used here
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</code></pre>
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<p>This restriction allows for mutation but in a very controlled fashion. It’s
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something that new Rustaceans struggle with, because most languages let you
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mutate whenever you’d like.</p>
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<p>The benefit of having this restriction is that Rust can prevent data races at
|
|||
|
compile time. A <em>data race</em> is similar to a race condition and happens when
|
|||
|
these three behaviors occur:</p>
|
|||
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
<li>Two or more pointers access the same data at the same time.</li>
|
|||
|
<li>At least one of the pointers is being used to write to the data.</li>
|
|||
|
<li>There’s no mechanism being used to synchronize access to the data.</li>
|
|||
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
<p>Data races cause undefined behavior and can be difficult to diagnose and fix
|
|||
|
when you’re trying to track them down at runtime; Rust prevents this problem
|
|||
|
from happening because it won’t even compile code with data races!</p>
|
|||
|
<p>As always, we can use curly brackets to create a new scope, allowing for
|
|||
|
multiple mutable references, just not <em>simultaneous</em> ones:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
|
|||
|
<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
|
|||
|
</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
|
|||
|
</span>let mut s = String::from("hello");
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
{
|
|||
|
let r1 = &mut s;
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
} // r1 goes out of scope here, so we can make a new reference with no problems.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
let r2 = &mut s;
|
|||
|
<span class="boring">}
|
|||
|
</span></code></pre></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>A similar rule exists for combining mutable and immutable references. This code
|
|||
|
results in an error:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore does_not_compile">let mut s = String::from("hello");
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
let r1 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
let r2 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
let r3 = &mut s; // BIG PROBLEM
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
println!("{}, {}, and {}", r1, r2, r3);
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>Here’s the error:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-text">error[E0502]: cannot borrow `s` as mutable because it is also borrowed as immutable
|
|||
|
--> src/main.rs:6:14
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
4 | let r1 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
| -- immutable borrow occurs here
|
|||
|
5 | let r2 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
6 | let r3 = &mut s; // BIG PROBLEM
|
|||
|
| ^^^^^^ mutable borrow occurs here
|
|||
|
7 |
|
|||
|
8 | println!("{}, {}, and {}", r1, r2, r3);
|
|||
|
| -- immutable borrow later used here
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>Whew! We <em>also</em> cannot have a mutable reference while we have an immutable one.
|
|||
|
Users of an immutable reference don’t expect the values to suddenly change out
|
|||
|
from under them! However, multiple immutable references are okay because no one
|
|||
|
who is just reading the data has the ability to affect anyone else’s reading of
|
|||
|
the data.</p>
|
|||
|
<p>Note that a reference’s scope starts from where it is introduced and continues
|
|||
|
through the last time that reference is used. For instance, this code will
|
|||
|
compile because the last usage of the immutable references occurs before the
|
|||
|
mutable reference is introduced:</p>
|
|||
|
<!-- This example is being ignored because there's a bug in rustdoc making the
|
|||
|
edition2018 not work. The bug is currently fixed in nightly, so when we update
|
|||
|
the book to >= 1.35, `ignore` can be removed from this example. -->
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-rust edition2018 ignore">let mut s = String::from("hello");
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
let r1 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
let r2 = &s; // no problem
|
|||
|
println!("{} and {}", r1, r2);
|
|||
|
// r1 and r2 are no longer used after this point
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
let r3 = &mut s; // no problem
|
|||
|
println!("{}", r3);
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>The scopes of the immutable references <code>r1</code> and <code>r2</code> end after the <code>println!</code>
|
|||
|
where they are last used, which is before the mutable reference <code>r3</code> is
|
|||
|
created. These scopes don’t overlap, so this code is allowed.</p>
|
|||
|
<p>Even though borrowing errors may be frustrating at times, remember that it’s
|
|||
|
the Rust compiler pointing out a potential bug early (at compile time rather
|
|||
|
than at runtime) and showing you exactly where the problem is. Then you don’t
|
|||
|
have to track down why your data isn’t what you thought it was.</p>
|
|||
|
<h3><a class="header" href="#dangling-references" id="dangling-references">Dangling References</a></h3>
|
|||
|
<p>In languages with pointers, it’s easy to erroneously create a <em>dangling
|
|||
|
pointer</em>, a pointer that references a location in memory that may have been
|
|||
|
given to someone else, by freeing some memory while preserving a pointer to
|
|||
|
that memory. In Rust, by contrast, the compiler guarantees that references will
|
|||
|
never be dangling references: if you have a reference to some data, the
|
|||
|
compiler will ensure that the data will not go out of scope before the
|
|||
|
reference to the data does.</p>
|
|||
|
<p>Let’s try to create a dangling reference, which Rust will prevent with a
|
|||
|
compile-time error:</p>
|
|||
|
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore does_not_compile">fn main() {
|
|||
|
let reference_to_nothing = dangle();
|
|||
|
}
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
fn dangle() -> &String {
|
|||
|
let s = String::from("hello");
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
&s
|
|||
|
}
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>Here’s the error:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-text">error[E0106]: missing lifetime specifier
|
|||
|
--> main.rs:5:16
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
5 | fn dangle() -> &String {
|
|||
|
| ^ expected lifetime parameter
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
= help: this function's return type contains a borrowed value, but there is
|
|||
|
no value for it to be borrowed from
|
|||
|
= help: consider giving it a 'static lifetime
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>This error message refers to a feature we haven’t covered yet: lifetimes. We’ll
|
|||
|
discuss lifetimes in detail in Chapter 10. But, if you disregard the parts
|
|||
|
about lifetimes, the message does contain the key to why this code is a problem:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-text">this function's return type contains a borrowed value, but there is no value
|
|||
|
for it to be borrowed from.
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>Let’s take a closer look at exactly what’s happening at each stage of our
|
|||
|
<code>dangle</code> code:</p>
|
|||
|
<p><span class="filename">Filename: src/main.rs</span></p>
|
|||
|
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore does_not_compile">fn dangle() -> &String { // dangle returns a reference to a String
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
let s = String::from("hello"); // s is a new String
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
&s // we return a reference to the String, s
|
|||
|
} // Here, s goes out of scope, and is dropped. Its memory goes away.
|
|||
|
// Danger!
|
|||
|
</code></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>Because <code>s</code> is created inside <code>dangle</code>, when the code of <code>dangle</code> is finished,
|
|||
|
<code>s</code> will be deallocated. But we tried to return a reference to it. That means
|
|||
|
this reference would be pointing to an invalid <code>String</code>. That’s no good! Rust
|
|||
|
won’t let us do this.</p>
|
|||
|
<p>The solution here is to return the <code>String</code> directly:</p>
|
|||
|
<pre><pre class="playpen"><code class="language-rust">
|
|||
|
<span class="boring">#![allow(unused_variables)]
|
|||
|
</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
|
|||
|
</span>fn no_dangle() -> String {
|
|||
|
let s = String::from("hello");
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
s
|
|||
|
}
|
|||
|
<span class="boring">}
|
|||
|
</span></code></pre></pre>
|
|||
|
<p>This works without any problems. Ownership is moved out, and nothing is
|
|||
|
deallocated.</p>
|
|||
|
<h3><a class="header" href="#the-rules-of-references" id="the-rules-of-references">The Rules of References</a></h3>
|
|||
|
<p>Let’s recap what we’ve discussed about references:</p>
|
|||
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
<li>At any given time, you can have <em>either</em> one mutable reference <em>or</em> any
|
|||
|
number of immutable references.</li>
|
|||
|
<li>References must always be valid.</li>
|
|||
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
<p>Next, we’ll look at a different kind of reference: slices.</p>
|
|||
|
|
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|
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