Searching Through Iterators

Introduction

In this lab, we learn about the Iterator::find function in Rust, which iterates over an iterator and searches for the first value that satisfies a given condition. If none of the values satisfy the condition, it returns None.

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

Searching through iterators

Iterator::find is a function which iterates over an iterator and searches for the first value which satisfies some condition. If none of the values satisfy the condition, it returns None. Its signature:

pub trait Iterator {
    // The type being iterated over.
    type Item;

    // `find` takes `&mut self` meaning the caller may be borrowed
    // and modified, but not consumed.
    fn find<P>(&mut self, predicate: P) -> Option<Self::Item> where
        // `FnMut` meaning any captured variable may at most be
        // modified, not consumed. `&Self::Item` states it takes
        // arguments to the closure by reference.
        P: FnMut(&Self::Item) -> bool;
}

fn main() {
    let vec1 = vec![1, 2, 3];
    let vec2 = vec![4, 5, 6];

    // `iter()` for vecs yields `&i32`.
    let mut iter = vec1.iter();
    // `into_iter()` for vecs yields `i32`.
    let mut into_iter = vec2.into_iter();

    // `iter()` for vecs yields `&i32`, and we want to reference one of its
    // items, so we have to destructure `&&i32` to `i32`
    println!("Find 2 in vec1: {:?}", iter     .find(|&&x| x == 2));
    // `into_iter()` for vecs yields `i32`, and we want to reference one of
    // its items, so we have to destructure `&i32` to `i32`
    println!("Find 2 in vec2: {:?}", into_iter.find(| &x| x == 2));

    let array1 = [1, 2, 3];
    let array2 = [4, 5, 6];

    // `iter()` for arrays yields `&&i32`
    println!("Find 2 in array1: {:?}", array1.iter()     .find(|&&x| x == 2));
    // `into_iter()` for arrays yields `&i32`
    println!("Find 2 in array2: {:?}", array2.into_iter().find(|&x| x == 2));
}

Iterator::find gives you a reference to the item. But if you want the index of the item, use Iterator::position.

fn main() {
    let vec = vec![1, 9, 3, 3, 13, 2];

    // `iter()` for vecs yields `&i32` and `position()` does not take a reference, so
    // we have to destructure `&i32` to `i32`
    let index_of_first_even_number = vec.iter().position(|&x| x % 2 == 0);
    assert_eq!(index_of_first_even_number, Some(5));

    // `into_iter()` for vecs yields `i32` and `position()` does not take a reference, so
    // we do not have to destructure
    let index_of_first_negative_number = vec.into_iter().position(|x| x < 0);
    assert_eq!(index_of_first_negative_number, None);
}

Summary

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