Rust Enum Concepts and Type Aliases

Introduction

In this lab, we learn about enums in Rust, which allow the creation of a type that can have multiple variants, including unit-like, tuple structs, and c-like structures. We also see how to define enum variants and use pattern matching to handle different variants. Additionally, we explore type aliases, which provide a way to refer to each enum variant via an alias, making the code more concise and readable.

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.

Enums

The enum keyword allows the creation of a type which may be one of a few different variants. Any variant which is valid as a struct is also valid in an enum.

// Create an `enum` to classify a web event. Note how both
// names and type information together specify the variant:
// `PageLoad != PageUnload` and `KeyPress(char) != Paste(String)`.
// Each is different and independent.
enum WebEvent {
    // An `enum` variant may either be `unit-like`,
    PageLoad,
    PageUnload,
    // like tuple structs,
    KeyPress(char),
    Paste(String),
    // or c-like structures.
    Click { x: i64, y: i64 },
}

// A function which takes a `WebEvent` enum as an argument and
// returns nothing.
fn inspect(event: WebEvent) {
    match event {
        WebEvent::PageLoad => println!("page loaded"),
        WebEvent::PageUnload => println!("page unloaded"),
        // Destructure `c` from inside the `enum` variant.
        WebEvent::KeyPress(c) => println!("pressed '{}'.", c),
        WebEvent::Paste(s) => println!("pasted \"{}\".", s),
        // Destructure `Click` into `x` and `y`.
        WebEvent::Click { x, y } => {
            println!("clicked at x={}, y={}.", x, y);
        },
    }
}

fn main() {
    let pressed = WebEvent::KeyPress('x');
    // `to_owned()` creates an owned `String` from a string slice.
    let pasted  = WebEvent::Paste("my text".to_owned());
    let click   = WebEvent::Click { x: 20, y: 80 };
    let load    = WebEvent::PageLoad;
    let unload  = WebEvent::PageUnload;

    inspect(pressed);
    inspect(pasted);
    inspect(click);
    inspect(load);
    inspect(unload);
}

Type aliases

If you use a type alias, you can refer to each enum variant via its alias. This might be useful if the enum's name is too long or too generic, and you want to rename it.

enum VeryVerboseEnumOfThingsToDoWithNumbers {
    Add,
    Subtract,
}

// Creates a type alias
type Operations = VeryVerboseEnumOfThingsToDoWithNumbers;

fn main() {
    // We can refer to each variant via its alias, not its long and inconvenient
    // name.
    let x = Operations::Add;
}

The most common place you'll see this is in impl blocks using the Self alias.

enum VeryVerboseEnumOfThingsToDoWithNumbers {
    Add,
    Subtract,
}

impl VeryVerboseEnumOfThingsToDoWithNumbers {
    fn run(&self, x: i32, y: i32) -> i32 {
        match self {
            Self::Add => x + y,
            Self::Subtract => x - y,
        }
    }
}

To learn more about enums and type aliases, you can read the stabilization report from when this feature was stabilized into Rust.

Summary

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