Cloning Rust Structs with Clone Trait

Introduction

In this lab, we learn about using the Clone trait in Rust to make copies of resources, such as structs, by using the .clone() method. The Clone trait allows us to create independent copies of resources, and we can use the .clone() method to create a new instance with the same values.

Note: If the lab does not specify a file name, you can use any file name you want. For example, you can use main.rs, compile and run it with rustc main.rs && ./main.

Skills Graph

Clone

When dealing with resources, the default behavior is to transfer them during assignments or function calls. However, sometimes we need to make a copy of the resource as well.

The Clone trait helps us do exactly this. Most commonly, we can use the .clone() method defined by the Clone trait.

// A unit struct without resources
#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
struct Unit;

// A tuple struct with resources that implements the `Clone` trait
#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
struct Pair(Box<i32>, Box<i32>);

fn main() {
    // Instantiate `Unit`
    let unit = Unit;
    // Copy `Unit`, there are no resources to move
    let copied_unit = unit;

    // Both `Unit`s can be used independently
    println!("original: {:?}", unit);
    println!("copy: {:?}", copied_unit);

    // Instantiate `Pair`
    let pair = Pair(Box::new(1), Box::new(2));
    println!("original: {:?}", pair);

    // Move `pair` into `moved_pair`, moves resources
    let moved_pair = pair;
    println!("moved: {:?}", moved_pair);

    // Error! `pair` has lost its resources
    //println!("original: {:?}", pair);
    // TODO ^ Try uncommenting this line

    // Clone `moved_pair` into `cloned_pair` (resources are included)
    let cloned_pair = moved_pair.clone();
    // Drop the original pair using std::mem::drop
    drop(moved_pair);

    // Error! `moved_pair` has been dropped
    //println!("copy: {:?}", moved_pair);
    // TODO ^ Try uncommenting this line

    // The result from .clone() can still be used!
    println!("clone: {:?}", cloned_pair);
}

Summary

Congratulations! You have completed the Clone lab. You can practice more labs in LabEx to improve your skills.