diff --git a/src/trait/impl_trait.md b/src/trait/impl_trait.md index f429d9adf7..e738be4a35 100644 --- a/src/trait/impl_trait.md +++ b/src/trait/impl_trait.md @@ -1,5 +1,56 @@ # `impl Trait` +`impl Trait` can be used in two locations: + +1. as an argument type +2. as a return type + +## As an argument type + +If your function is generic over a trait but you don't mind the specific type, you can simplify the function declaration using `impl Trait` as the type of the argument. + +For example, consider the following code: + +```rust,editable +fn parse_csv_document<R: std::io::BufRead>(src: R) -> std::io::Result<Vec<Vec<String>>> { + src.lines() + .map(|line| { + // For each line in the source + line.map(|line| { + // If the line was read successfully, process it, if not, return the error + line.split(',') // Split the line separated by commas + .map(|entry| String::from(entry.trim())) // Remove leading and trailing whitespace + .collect() // Collect all strings in a row into a Vec<String> + }) + }) + .collect() // Collect all lines into a Vec<Vec<String>> +} +``` + +`parse_csv_document` is generic, allowing it to take any type which implements BufRead, such as `BufReader<File>` or `[u8]`, +but it's not important what type `R` is, and `R` is only used to declare the type of `src`, so the function can also be written an + +```rust,editable +fn parse_csv_document(src: impl std::io::BufRead) -> std::io::Result<Vec<Vec<String>>> { + src.lines() + .map(|line| { + // For each line in the source + line.map(|line| { + // If the line was read successfully, process it, if not, return the error + line.split(',') // Split the line separated by commas + .map(|entry| String::from(entry.trim())) // Remove leading and trailing whitespace + .collect() // Collect all strings in a row into a Vec<String> + }) + }) + .collect() // Collect all lines into a Vec<Vec<String>> +} +``` + +Note that using `impl Trait` as an argument type means that you cannot explicitly state what form of the function you use, i.e. `parse_csv_document::<std::io::Empty>(std::io::empty())` will not work with the second example + + +## As a return type + If your function returns a type that implements `MyTrait`, you can write its return type as `-> impl MyTrait`. This can help simplify your type signatures quite a lot!