Doc FAQ Cheatsheet

How do I convert X to Y?

Int to string

Use ToStr.

let x: int = 42;
let y: ~str = x.to_str();

String to int

Use FromStr, and its helper function, from_str.

let x: Option<int> = from_str("42");
let y: int = x.unwrap();

Int to string, in non-base-10

Use ToStrRadix.

use std::num::ToStrRadix;

let x: int = 42;
let y: ~str = x.to_str_radix(16);

String to int, in non-base-10

Use FromStrRadix, and its helper function, from_str_radix.

use std::num::from_str_radix;

let x: Option<int> = from_str_radix("deadbeef", 16);
let y: int = x.unwrap();

File operations

How do I read from a file?

Use File::open to create a File struct, which implements the Reader trait.

use std::path::Path;
use std::io::fs::File;

let path : Path   = Path::new("Doc-FAQ-Cheatsheet.md");
let on_error      = || fail!("open of {:?} failed", path);
let reader : File = File::open(&path).unwrap_or_else(on_error);

How do I iterate over the lines in a file?

Use the lines method on a BufferedReader.

use std::io::buffered::BufferedReader;

let mut reader = BufferedReader::new(reader);
for line in reader.lines() {
    print!("line: {}", line);
}

String operations

How do I search for a substring?

Use the find_str method.

let str = "Hello, this is some random string";
let index: Option<uint> = str.find_str("rand");

Containers

How do I get the length of a vector?

The Container trait provides the len method.

let u: ~[u32] = ~[0, 1, 2];
let v: &[u32] = &[0, 1, 2, 3];
let w: [u32, .. 5] = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4];

println!("u: {}, v: {}, w: {}", u.len(), v.len(), w.len()); // 3, 4, 5

How do I iterate over a vector?

Use the iter method.

let values: ~[int] = ~[1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
for value in values.iter() {  // value: &int
    println!("{}", *value);
}

(See also mut_iter which yields &mut int and move_iter which yields int while consuming the values vector.)

Type system

How do I express phantom types?

Phantom types are those that cannot be constructed at compile time. To express these in Rust, zero-variant enums can be used:

enum Open {}
enum Closed {}

Phantom types are useful for enforcing state at compile time. For example:

struct Door<State>(~str);

fn close(Door(name): Door<Open>) -> Door<Closed> {
    Door::<Closed>(name)
}

fn open(Door(name): Door<Closed>) -> Door<Open> {
    Door::<Open>(name)
}

let _ = close(Door::<Open>(~"front"));   // ok
let _ = close(Door::<Closed>(~"front")); // error: mismatched types: expected `main::Door<main::Open>` but found `main::Door<main::Closed>`

FFI (Foreign Function Interface)

C function signature conversions

Description	C signature	Equivalent Rust signature
no parameters	void foo(void);	fn foo();
return value	int foo(void);	fn foo() -> c_int;
function parameters	void foo(int x, int y);	fn foo(x: int, y: int);
in-out pointers	void foo(const int* in_ptr, int* out_ptr);	fn foo(in_ptr: *c_int, out_ptr: *mut c_int);

Note: The Rust signatures should be wrapped in an extern "ABI" { ... } block.

Representing opaque handles

You might see things like this in C APIs:

typedef struct Window Window;
Window* createWindow(int width, int height);

You can use a zero-element enum (phantom type) to represent the opaque object handle. The FFI would look like this:

enum Window {}
extern "C" {
    fn createWindow(width: c_int, height: c_int) -> *Window;
}

Using a phantom type ensures that the handles cannot be (safely) constructed in client code.

Contributing to this page

For small examples, have full type annotations, as much as is reasonable, to keep it clear what, exactly, everything is doing. Try to link to the API docs, as well.

Similar documents for other programming languages:

• http://pleac.sourceforge.net/