Copy types

Some types in Rust are very simple. They are called copy types. These simple types are all on the stack, and the compiler knows their size. That means that they are very easy to copy, so the compiler always copies when you send it to a function. It always copies because they are so small and easy that there is no reason not to copy. So you don't need to worry about ownership for these types.

These simple types include: integers, floats, booleans (true and false), and char.

How do you know if a type implements copy? (implements = can use) You can check the documentation. For example, here is the documentation for char:

https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/primitive.char.html

On the left you can see Trait Implementations. You can see for example Copy, Debug, and Display. So you know that a char:

is copied when you send it to a function (Copy)
can use {} to print (Display)
can use {:?} to print (Debug)

fn prints_number(number: i32) { // There is no -> so it's not returning anything
                             // If number was not copy type, it would take it
                             // and we couldn't use it again
    println!("{}", number);
}

fn main() {
    let my_number = 8;
    prints_number(my_number); // Prints 8. prints_number gets a copy of my_number
    prints_number(my_number); // Prints 8 again.
                              // No problem, because my_number is copy type!
}

But if you look at the documentation for String, it is not copy type.

https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/string/struct.String.html

On the left in Trait Implementations you can look in alphabetical order. A, B, C... there is no Copy in C. But there is Clone. Clone is similar to Copy, but usually needs more memory. Also, you have to call it with .clone() - it won't clone just by itself.

In this example, prints_country() prints the country name, a String. We want to print it two times, but we can't:

fn prints_country(country_name: String) {
    println!("{}", country_name);
}

fn main() {
    let country = String::from("Kiribati");
    prints_country(country);
    prints_country(country); // ⚠️
}

But now we understand the message.

error[E0382]: use of moved value: `country`
 --> src\main.rs:4:20
  |
2 |     let country = String::from("Kiribati");
  |         ------- move occurs because `country` has type `std::string::String`, which does not implement the `Copy` trait
3 |     prints_country(country);
  |                    ------- value moved here
4 |     prints_country(country);
  |                    ^^^^^^^ value used here after move

The important part is which does not implement the Copy trait. But in the documentation we saw that String implements the Clone trait. So we can add .clone() to our code. This creates a clone, and we send the clone to the function. Now country is still alive, so we can use it.

fn prints_country(country_name: String) {
    println!("{}", country_name);
}

fn main() {
    let country = String::from("Kiribati");
    prints_country(country.clone()); // make a clone and give it to the function. Only the clone goes in, and country is still alive
    prints_country(country);
}

Of course, if the String is very large, .clone() can use a lot of memory. One String can be a whole book in length, and every time we call .clone() it will copy the book. So using & for a reference is faster, if you can. For example, this code pushes a &str onto a String and then makes a clone every time it gets used in a function:

fn get_length(input: String) { // Takes ownership of a String
    println!("It's {} words long.", input.split_whitespace().count()); // splits to count the number of words
}

fn main() {
    let mut my_string = String::new();
    for _ in 0..50 {
        my_string.push_str("Here are some more words "); // push the words on
        get_length(my_string.clone()); // gives it a clone every time
    }
}

It prints:

It's 5 words long.
It's 10 words long.
...
It's 250 words long.

That's 50 clones. Here it is using a reference instead, which is better:

fn get_length(input: &String) {
    println!("It's {} words long.", input.split_whitespace().count());
}

fn main() {
    let mut my_string = String::new();
    for _ in 0..50 {
        my_string.push_str("Here are some more words ");
        get_length(&my_string);
    }
}

Instead of 50 clones, it's zero.

Variables without values

A variable without a value is called an "uninitialized" variable. Uninitialized means "hasn't started yet". They are simple: just write let and the variable name:

fn main() {
    let my_variable; // ⚠️
}

But you can't use it yet, and Rust won't compile if anything is uninitialized.

But sometimes they can be useful. A good example is when:

You have a code block and the value for your variable is inside it, and
The variable needs to live outside of the code block.

fn loop_then_return(mut counter: i32) -> i32 {
    loop {
        counter += 1;
        if counter % 50 == 0 {
            break;
        }
    }
    counter
}

fn main() {
    let my_number;

    {
        // Pretend we need to have this code block
        let number = {
            // Pretend there is code here to make a number
            // Lots of code, and finally:
            57
        };

        my_number = loop_then_return(number);
    }

    println!("{}", my_number);
}

This prints 100.

You can see that my_number was declared in the main() function, so it lives until the end. But it gets its value from inside a loop. However, that value lives as long as my_number, because my_number has the value. And if you wrote let my_number = loop_then_return(number) inside the block, it would just die right away.

It helps to imagine if you simplify the code. loop_then_return(number) gives the result 100, so let's delete it and write 100 instead. Also, now we don't need number so we will delete it too. Now it looks like this:

fn main() {
    let my_number;
    {
        my_number = 100;
    }

    println!("{}", my_number);
}

So it's almost like saying let my_number = { 100 };.

Also note that my_number is not mut. We didn't give it a value until we gave it 50, so it never changed its value. In the end, the real code for my_number is just let my_number = 100;.