Improving Our I/O Project
With this new knowledge about iterators, we can improve the I/O project in
Chapter 12 by using iterators to make places in the code clearer and more
concise. Let’s look at how iterators can improve our implementation of the
Config::build
function and the search
function.
Removing a clone
Using an Iterator
In Listing 12-6, we added code that took a slice of String
values and created
an instance of the Config
struct by indexing into the slice and cloning the
values, allowing the Config
struct to own those values. In Listing 13-17,
we’ve reproduced the implementation of the Config::build
function as it was
in Listing 12-23:
Filename: src/lib.rs
use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
pub struct Config {
pub query: String,
pub file_path: String,
pub ignore_case: bool,
}
impl Config {
pub fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
if args.len() < 3 {
return Err("not enough arguments");
}
let query = args[1].clone();
let file_path = args[2].clone();
let ignore_case = env::var("IGNORE_CASE").is_ok();
Ok(Config {
query,
file_path,
ignore_case,
})
}
}
pub fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;
let results = if config.ignore_case {
search_case_insensitive(&config.query, &contents)
} else {
search(&config.query, &contents)
};
for line in results {
println!("{line}");
}
Ok(())
}
pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.contains(query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
pub fn search_case_insensitive<'a>(
query: &str,
contents: &'a str,
) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let query = query.to_lowercase();
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.to_lowercase().contains(&query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn case_sensitive() {
let query = "duct";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Duct tape.";
assert_eq!(vec!["safe, fast, productive."], search(query, contents));
}
#[test]
fn case_insensitive() {
let query = "rUsT";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Trust me.";
assert_eq!(
vec!["Rust:", "Trust me."],
search_case_insensitive(query, contents)
);
}
}
At the time, we said not to worry about the inefficient clone
calls because
we would remove them in the future. Well, that time is now!
We needed clone
here because we have a slice with String
elements in the
parameter args
, but the build
function doesn’t own args
. To return
ownership of a Config
instance, we had to clone the values from the query
and file_path
fields of Config
so the Config
instance can own its values.
With our new knowledge about iterators, we can change the build
function to
take ownership of an iterator as its argument instead of borrowing a slice.
We’ll use the iterator functionality instead of the code that checks the length
of the slice and indexes into specific locations. This will clarify what the
Config::build
function is doing because the iterator will access the values.
Once Config::build
takes ownership of the iterator and stops using indexing
operations that borrow, we can move the String
values from the iterator into
Config
rather than calling clone
and making a new allocation.
Using the Returned Iterator Directly
Open your I/O project’s src/main.rs file, which should look like this:
Filename: src/main.rs
use std::env;
use std::process;
use minigrep::Config;
fn main() {
let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();
let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
eprintln!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
process::exit(1);
});
// --snip--
if let Err(e) = minigrep::run(config) {
eprintln!("Application error: {e}");
process::exit(1);
}
}
We’ll first change the start of the main
function that we had in Listing
12-24 to the code in Listing 13-18, which this time uses an iterator. This
won’t compile until we update Config::build
as well.
Filename: src/main.rs
use std::env;
use std::process;
use minigrep::Config;
fn main() {
let config = Config::build(env::args()).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
eprintln!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
process::exit(1);
});
// --snip--
if let Err(e) = minigrep::run(config) {
eprintln!("Application error: {e}");
process::exit(1);
}
}
The env::args
function returns an iterator! Rather than collecting the
iterator values into a vector and then passing a slice to Config::build
, now
we’re passing ownership of the iterator returned from env::args
to
Config::build
directly.
Next, we need to update the definition of Config::build
. In your I/O
project’s src/lib.rs file, let’s change the signature of Config::build
to
look like Listing 13-19. This still won’t compile because we need to update the
function body.
Filename: src/lib.rs
use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
pub struct Config {
pub query: String,
pub file_path: String,
pub ignore_case: bool,
}
impl Config {
pub fn build(
mut args: impl Iterator<Item = String>,
) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
// --snip--
if args.len() < 3 {
return Err("not enough arguments");
}
let query = args[1].clone();
let file_path = args[2].clone();
let ignore_case = env::var("IGNORE_CASE").is_ok();
Ok(Config {
query,
file_path,
ignore_case,
})
}
}
pub fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;
let results = if config.ignore_case {
search_case_insensitive(&config.query, &contents)
} else {
search(&config.query, &contents)
};
for line in results {
println!("{line}");
}
Ok(())
}
pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.contains(query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
pub fn search_case_insensitive<'a>(
query: &str,
contents: &'a str,
) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let query = query.to_lowercase();
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.to_lowercase().contains(&query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn case_sensitive() {
let query = "duct";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Duct tape.";
assert_eq!(vec!["safe, fast, productive."], search(query, contents));
}
#[test]
fn case_insensitive() {
let query = "rUsT";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Trust me.";
assert_eq!(
vec!["Rust:", "Trust me."],
search_case_insensitive(query, contents)
);
}
}
The standard library documentation for the env::args
function shows that the
type of the iterator it returns is std::env::Args
, and that type implements
the Iterator
trait and returns String
values.
We’ve updated the signature of the Config::build
function so the parameter
args
has a generic type with the trait bounds impl Iterator<Item = String>
instead of &[String]
. This usage of the impl Trait
syntax we discussed in
the “Traits as Parameters” section of Chapter 10
means that args
can be any type that implements the Iterator
type and
returns String
items.
Because we’re taking ownership of args
and we’ll be mutating args
by
iterating over it, we can add the mut
keyword into the specification of the
args
parameter to make it mutable.
Using Iterator
Trait Methods Instead of Indexing
Next, we’ll fix the body of Config::build
. Because args
implements the
Iterator
trait, we know we can call the next
method on it! Listing 13-20
updates the code from Listing 12-23 to use the next
method:
Filename: src/lib.rs
use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
pub struct Config {
pub query: String,
pub file_path: String,
pub ignore_case: bool,
}
impl Config {
pub fn build(
mut args: impl Iterator<Item = String>,
) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
args.next();
let query = match args.next() {
Some(arg) => arg,
None => return Err("Didn't get a query string"),
};
let file_path = match args.next() {
Some(arg) => arg,
None => return Err("Didn't get a file path"),
};
let ignore_case = env::var("IGNORE_CASE").is_ok();
Ok(Config {
query,
file_path,
ignore_case,
})
}
}
pub fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;
let results = if config.ignore_case {
search_case_insensitive(&config.query, &contents)
} else {
search(&config.query, &contents)
};
for line in results {
println!("{line}");
}
Ok(())
}
pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.contains(query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
pub fn search_case_insensitive<'a>(
query: &str,
contents: &'a str,
) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let query = query.to_lowercase();
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.to_lowercase().contains(&query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn case_sensitive() {
let query = "duct";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Duct tape.";
assert_eq!(vec!["safe, fast, productive."], search(query, contents));
}
#[test]
fn case_insensitive() {
let query = "rUsT";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Trust me.";
assert_eq!(
vec!["Rust:", "Trust me."],
search_case_insensitive(query, contents)
);
}
}
Remember that the first value in the return value of env::args
is the name of
the program. We want to ignore that and get to the next value, so first we call
next
and do nothing with the return value. Second, we call next
to get the
value we want to put in the query
field of Config
. If next
returns a
Some
, we use a match
to extract the value. If it returns None
, it means
not enough arguments were given and we return early with an Err
value. We do
the same thing for the file_path
value.
Making Code Clearer with Iterator Adaptors
We can also take advantage of iterators in the search
function in our I/O
project, which is reproduced here in Listing 13-21 as it was in Listing 12-19:
Filename: src/lib.rs
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
pub struct Config {
pub query: String,
pub file_path: String,
}
impl Config {
pub fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
if args.len() < 3 {
return Err("not enough arguments");
}
let query = args[1].clone();
let file_path = args[2].clone();
Ok(Config { query, file_path })
}
}
pub fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;
Ok(())
}
pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.contains(query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn one_result() {
let query = "duct";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.";
assert_eq!(vec!["safe, fast, productive."], search(query, contents));
}
}
We can write this code in a more concise way using iterator adaptor methods.
Doing so also lets us avoid having a mutable intermediate results
vector. The
functional programming style prefers to minimize the amount of mutable state to
make code clearer. Removing the mutable state might enable a future enhancement
to make searching happen in parallel, because we wouldn’t have to manage
concurrent access to the results
vector. Listing 13-22 shows this change:
Filename: src/lib.rs
use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
pub struct Config {
pub query: String,
pub file_path: String,
pub ignore_case: bool,
}
impl Config {
pub fn build(
mut args: impl Iterator<Item = String>,
) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
args.next();
let query = match args.next() {
Some(arg) => arg,
None => return Err("Didn't get a query string"),
};
let file_path = match args.next() {
Some(arg) => arg,
None => return Err("Didn't get a file path"),
};
let ignore_case = env::var("IGNORE_CASE").is_ok();
Ok(Config {
query,
file_path,
ignore_case,
})
}
}
pub fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;
let results = if config.ignore_case {
search_case_insensitive(&config.query, &contents)
} else {
search(&config.query, &contents)
};
for line in results {
println!("{line}");
}
Ok(())
}
pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
contents
.lines()
.filter(|line| line.contains(query))
.collect()
}
pub fn search_case_insensitive<'a>(
query: &str,
contents: &'a str,
) -> Vec<&'a str> {
let query = query.to_lowercase();
let mut results = Vec::new();
for line in contents.lines() {
if line.to_lowercase().contains(&query) {
results.push(line);
}
}
results
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
use super::*;
#[test]
fn case_sensitive() {
let query = "duct";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Duct tape.";
assert_eq!(vec!["safe, fast, productive."], search(query, contents));
}
#[test]
fn case_insensitive() {
let query = "rUsT";
let contents = "\
Rust:
safe, fast, productive.
Pick three.
Trust me.";
assert_eq!(
vec!["Rust:", "Trust me."],
search_case_insensitive(query, contents)
);
}
}
Recall that the purpose of the search
function is to return all lines in
contents
that contain the query
. Similar to the filter
example in Listing
13-16, this code uses the filter
adaptor to keep only the lines that
line.contains(query)
returns true
for. We then collect the matching lines
into another vector with collect
. Much simpler! Feel free to make the same
change to use iterator methods in the search_case_insensitive
function as
well.
Choosing Between Loops or Iterators
The next logical question is which style you should choose in your own code and why: the original implementation in Listing 13-21 or the version using iterators in Listing 13-22. Most Rust programmers prefer to use the iterator style. It’s a bit tougher to get the hang of at first, but once you get a feel for the various iterator adaptors and what they do, iterators can be easier to understand. Instead of fiddling with the various bits of looping and building new vectors, the code focuses on the high-level objective of the loop. This abstracts away some of the commonplace code so it’s easier to see the concepts that are unique to this code, such as the filtering condition each element in the iterator must pass.
But are the two implementations truly equivalent? The intuitive assumption might be that the more low-level loop will be faster. Let’s talk about performance.