1.0.0[−][src]Enum alloc::borrow::Cow

[+] Show declaration

pub enum Cow<'a, B: ?Sized + 'a> where
    B: ToOwned,  {
    Borrowed(&'a B),
    Owned(<B as ToOwned>::Owned),
}

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A clone-on-write smart pointer.

The type Cow is a smart pointer providing clone-on-write functionality: it can enclose and provide immutable access to borrowed data, and clone the data lazily when mutation or ownership is required. The type is designed to work with general borrowed data via the Borrow trait.

Cow implements Deref, which means that you can call non-mutating methods directly on the data it encloses. If mutation is desired, to_mut will obtain a mutable reference to an owned value, cloning if necessary.

Examples

use std::borrow::Cow;

fn abs_all(input: &mut Cow<[i32]>) {
    for i in 0..input.len() {
        let v = input[i];
        if v < 0 {
            // Clones into a vector if not already owned.
            input.to_mut()[i] = -v;
        }
    }
}

// No clone occurs because `input` doesn't need to be mutated.
let slice = [0, 1, 2];
let mut input = Cow::from(&slice[..]);
abs_all(&mut input);

// Clone occurs because `input` needs to be mutated.
let slice = [-1, 0, 1];
let mut input = Cow::from(&slice[..]);
abs_all(&mut input);

// No clone occurs because `input` is already owned.
let mut input = Cow::from(vec![-1, 0, 1]);
abs_all(&mut input);

Another example showing how to keep Cow in a struct:

use std::borrow::{Cow, ToOwned};

struct Items<'a, X: 'a> where [X]: ToOwned<Owned=Vec<X>> {
    values: Cow<'a, [X]>,
}

impl<'a, X: Clone + 'a> Items<'a, X> where [X]: ToOwned<Owned=Vec<X>> {
    fn new(v: Cow<'a, [X]>) -> Self {
        Items { values: v }
    }
}

// Creates a container from borrowed values of a slice
let readonly = [1, 2];
let borrowed = Items::new((&readonly[..]).into());
match borrowed {
    Items { values: Cow::Borrowed(b) } => println!("borrowed {:?}", b),
    _ => panic!("expect borrowed value"),
}

let mut clone_on_write = borrowed;
// Mutates the data from slice into owned vec and pushes a new value on top
clone_on_write.values.to_mut().push(3);
println!("clone_on_write = {:?}", clone_on_write.values);

// The data was mutated. Let check it out.
match clone_on_write {
    Items { values: Cow::Owned(_) } => println!("clone_on_write contains owned data"),
    _ => panic!("expect owned data"),
}

Variants

Borrowed(&'a B)

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Borrowed data.

Owned(::Owned)

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Owned data.

Methods

`impl<'a, B: ?Sized> Cow<'a, B> where B: ToOwned,`
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`pub fn to_mut(&mut self) -> &mut ::Owned`
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Acquires a mutable reference to the owned form of the data.

Clones the data if it is not already owned.

Examples

use std::borrow::Cow;

let mut cow = Cow::Borrowed("foo");
cow.to_mut().make_ascii_uppercase();

assert_eq!(
  cow,
  Cow::Owned(String::from("FOO")) as Cow<str>
);

`pub fn into_owned(self) -> ::Owned`
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Extracts the owned data.

Clones the data if it is not already owned.

Examples

Calling into_owned on a Cow::Borrowed clones the underlying data and becomes a Cow::Owned:

use std::borrow::Cow;

let s = "Hello world!";
let cow = Cow::Borrowed(s);

assert_eq!(
  cow.into_owned(),
  String::from(s)
);

Calling into_owned on a Cow::Owned is a no-op:

use std::borrow::Cow;

let s = "Hello world!";
let cow: Cow<str> = Cow::Owned(String::from(s));

assert_eq!(
  cow.into_owned(),
  String::from(s)
);

Trait Implementations

`impl<'a> ToString for Cow<'a, str>`
1.17.0
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