Option and Result

We understand enums and generics now, so we can understand Option and Result. Rust uses these two enums to make code safer.

We will start with Option.

You use Option when you have a value that might exist, or might not exist. When a value exists it is Some(value) and when it doesn't it's just None, Here is an example of bad code that can be improved with Option.

    // ⚠️
fn take_fifth(value: Vec<i32>) -> i32 {
    value[4]
}

fn main() {
    let new_vec = vec![1, 2];
    let index = take_fifth(new_vec);
}

When we run the code, it panics. Here is the message:

thread 'main' panicked at 'index out of bounds: the len is 2 but the index is 4', src\main.rs:34:5

Panic means that the program stops before the problem happens. Rust sees that the function wants something impossible, and stops. It "unwinds the stack" (takes the values off the stack) and tells you "sorry, I can't do that".

So now we will change the return type from i32 to Option<i32>. This means "give me a Some(i32) if it's there, and give me None if it's not". We say that the i32 is "wrapped" in an Option, which means that it's inside an Option. You have to do something to get the value out.

fn take_fifth(value: Vec<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
    if value.len() < 5 { // .len() gives the length of the vec.
                         // It must be at least 5.
        None
    } else {
        Some(value[4])
    }
}

fn main() {
    let new_vec = vec![1, 2];
    let bigger_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    println!("{:?}, {:?}", take_fifth(new_vec), take_fifth(bigger_vec));
}

This prints None, Some(5). This is good, because now we don't panic anymore. But how do we get the value 5?

We can get the value inside an option with .unwrap(), but be careful with .unwrap(). It's just like unwrapping a present: maybe there's something good inside, or maybe there's an angry snake inside. You only want to .unwrap() if you are sure. If you unwrap a value that is None, the program will panic.

// ⚠️
fn take_fifth(value: Vec<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
    if value.len() < 5 {
        None
    } else {
        Some(value[4])
    }
}

fn main() {
    let new_vec = vec![1, 2];
    let bigger_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    println!("{:?}, {:?}",
        take_fifth(new_vec).unwrap(), // this one is None. .unwrap() will panic!
        take_fifth(bigger_vec).unwrap()
    );
}

The message is:

thread 'main' panicked at 'called `Option::unwrap()` on a `None` value', src\main.rs:14:9

But we don't have to use .unwrap(). We can use a match. Then we can print the value we have Some, and not touch it if we have None. For example:

fn take_fifth(value: Vec<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
    if value.len() < 5 {
        None
    } else {
        Some(value[4])
    }
}

fn handle_option(my_option: Vec<Option<i32>>) {
  for item in my_option {
    match item {
      Some(number) => println!("Found a {}!", number),
      None => println!("Found a None!"),
    }
  }
}

fn main() {
    let new_vec = vec![1, 2];
    let bigger_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    let mut option_vec = Vec::new(); // Make a new vec to hold our options
                                     // The vec is type: Vec<Option<i32>>. That means a vec of Option<i32>.

    option_vec.push(take_fifth(new_vec)); // This pushes "None" into the vec
    option_vec.push(take_fifth(bigger_vec)); // This pushes "Some(5)" into the vec

    handle_option(option_vec); // handle_option looks at every option in the vec.
                               // It prints the value if it is Some. It doesn't touch it if it is None.
}

This prints:

Found a None!
Found a 5!

Because we know generics, we are able to read the code for Option. It looks like this:

enum Option<T> {
    None,
    Some(T),
}

fn main() {}

The important point to remember: with Some, you have a value of type T (any type). Also note that the angle brackets after the enum name around T is what tells the compiler that it's generic. It has no trait like Display or anything to limit it, so it can be anything. But with None, you don't have anything.

So in a match statement for Option you can't say:


#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// 🚧
Some(value) => println!("The value is {}", value),
None(value) => println!("The value is {}", value),
}

because None is just None.

Of course, there are easier ways to use Option. In this code, we will use a method called .is_some() to tell us if it is Some. (Yes, there is also a method called .is_none().) In this easier way, we don't need handle_option() anymore. We also don't need a vec for the Options.

fn take_fifth(value: Vec<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
    if value.len() < 5 {
        None
    } else {
        Some(value[4])
    }
}

fn main() {
    let new_vec = vec![1, 2];
    let bigger_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    let vec_of_vecs = vec![new_vec, bigger_vec];
    for vec in vec_of_vecs {
        let inside_number = take_fifth(vec);
        if inside_number.is_some() {
            // .is_some() returns true if we get Some, false if we get None
            println!("We got: {}", inside_number.unwrap()); // now it is safe to use .unwrap() because we already checked
        } else {
            println!("We got nothing.");
        }
    }
}

This prints:

We got nothing.
We got: 5

Result

Result is similar to Option, but here is the difference:

Option is about Some or None (value or no value),
Result is about Ok or Err (okay result, or error result).

So Option is if you are thinking: "Maybe there will be something, and maybe there won't." But Result is if you are thinking: "Maybe it will fail."

To compare, here are the signatures for Option and Result.

enum Option<T> {
    None,
    Some(T),
}

enum Result<T, E> {
    Ok(T),
    Err(E),
}

fn main() {}

So Result has a value inside of Ok, and a value inside of Err. That is because errors usually contain information that describes the error.

Result<T, E> means you need to think of what you want to return for Ok, and what you want to return for Err. Actually, you can decide anything. Even this is okay:

fn check_error() -> Result<(), ()> {
    Ok(())
}

fn main() {
    check_error();
}

check_error says "return () if we get Ok, and return () if we get Err". Then we return Ok with a ().

The compiler gives us an interesting warning:

warning: unused `std::result::Result` that must be used
 --> src\main.rs:6:5
  |
6 |     check_error();
  |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  |
  = note: `#[warn(unused_must_use)]` on by default
  = note: this `Result` may be an `Err` variant, which should be handled

This is true: we only returned the Result but it could have been an Err. So let's handle the error a bit, even though we're still not really doing anything.

fn give_result(input: i32) -> Result<(), ()> {
    if input % 2 == 0 {
        return Ok(())
    } else {
        return Err(())
    }
}

fn main() {
    if give_result(5).is_ok() {
        println!("It's okay, guys")
    } else {
        println!("It's an error, guys")
    }
}

This prints It's an error, guys. So we just handled our first error.

Remember, the four methods to easily check are .is_some(), is_none(), is_ok(), and is_err().

Sometimes a function with Result will use a String for the Err value. This is not the best method to use, but it is a little better than what we've done so far.

fn check_if_five(number: i32) -> Result<i32, String> {
    match number {
        5 => Ok(number),
        _ => Err("Sorry, the number wasn't five.".to_string()), // This is our error message
    }
}

fn main() {
    let mut result_vec = Vec::new(); // Create a new vec for the results

    for number in 2..7 {
        result_vec.push(check_if_five(number)); // push each result into the vec
    }

    println!("{:?}", result_vec);
}

Our vec prints:

[Err("Sorry, the number wasn\'t five."), Err("Sorry, the number wasn\'t five."), Err("Sorry, the number wasn\'t five."), Ok(5),
Err("Sorry, the number wasn\'t five.")]

Just like Option, .unwrap() on Err will panic.

    // ⚠️
fn main() {
    let error_value: Result<i32, &str> = Err("There was an error"); // Create a Result that is already an Err
    println!("{}", error_value.unwrap()); // Unwrap it
}

The program panics, and prints:

thread 'main' panicked at 'called `Result::unwrap()` on an `Err` value: "There was an error"', src\main.rs:30:20

This information helps you fix your code. src\main.rs:30:20 means "inside main.rs in directory src, on line 30 and column 20". So you can go there to look at your code and fix the problem.

You can also create your own error types. Result functions in the standard library and other people's code usually do this. For example, this function from the standard library:


#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// 🚧
pub fn from_utf8(vec: Vec<u8>) -> Result<String, FromUtf8Error>
}

This function takes a vector of bytes (u8) and tries to make a String. So the success case for the Result is a String and the error case is FromUtf8Error. You can give your error type any name you want.

Using a match with Option and Result sometimes requires a lot of code. For example, the .get() method returns an Option on a Vec.

fn main() {
    let my_vec = vec![2, 3, 4];
    let get_one = my_vec.get(0); // 0 to get the first number
    let get_two = my_vec.get(10); // Returns None
    println!("{:?}", get_one);
    println!("{:?}", get_two);
}

This prints

Some(2)
None

So now we can match to get the values. Let's use a range from 0 to 10 to see if it matches the numbers in my_vec.

fn main() {
    let my_vec = vec![2, 3, 4];

    for index in 0..10 {
      match my_vec.get(index) {
        Some(number) => println!("The number is: {}", number),
        None => {}
      }
    }
}

This is good, but we don't do anything for None because we don't care. Here we can make the code smaller by using if let. if let means "do something if it matches, and don't do anything if it doesn't". if let is when you don't care about matching for everything.

fn main() {
    let my_vec = vec![2, 3, 4];

    for index in 0..10 {
      if let Some(number) = my_vec.get(index) {
        println!("The number is: {}", number);
      }
    }
}

Important to remember: if let Some(number) = my_vec.get(index) means "if you get Some(number) from my_vec.get(index)".

Also note: it uses one =. It is not a boolean.

while let is like a while loop for if let. Imagine that we have weather station data like this:

["Berlin", "cloudy", "5", "-7", "78"]
["Athens", "sunny", "not humid", "20", "10", "50"]

We want to get the numbers, but not the words. For the numbers, we can use a method called parse::<i32>(). parse() is the method, and ::<i32> is the type. It will try to turn the &str into an i32, and give it to us if it can. It returns a Result, because it might not work (like if you wanted it to parse "Billybrobby" - that's not a number).

We will also use .pop(). This takes the last item off of the vector.

fn main() {
    let weather_vec = vec![
        vec!["Berlin", "cloudy", "5", "-7", "78"],
        vec!["Athens", "sunny", "not humid", "20", "10", "50"],
    ];
    for mut city in weather_vec {
        println!("For the city of {}:", city[0]); // In our data, every first item is the city name
        while let Some(information) = city.pop() {
            // This means: keep going until you can't pop anymore
            // When the vector reaches 0 items, it will return None
            // and it will stop.
            if let Ok(number) = information.parse::<i32>() {
                // Try to parse the variable we called information
                // This returns a result. If it's Ok(number), it will print it
                println!("The number is: {}", number);
            }  // We don't write anything here because we do nothing if we get an error. Throw them all away
        }
    }
}

This will print:

For the city of Berlin:
The number is: 78
The number is: -7
The number is: 5
For the city of Athens:
The number is: 50
The number is: 10
The number is: 20