What does move do for variables that are references? - rust

I have a function that composes multiple functions into a single one:
fn compose<'a, T>(fns: &'a [&dyn Fn(T) -> T]) -> Box<dyn Fn(T) -> T + 'a> {
Box::new(move |mut x| {
for f in fns {
x = f(x);
}
x
})
}
Why do I need to move fns here? If I don't put move, I get the following error:
error[E0373]: closure may outlive the current function, but it borrows `fns`, which is owned by the current function
--> src/lib.rs:2:14
|
2 | Box::new(|mut x| {
| ^^^^^^^ may outlive borrowed value `fns`
3 | for f in fns {
| --- `fns` is borrowed here
I don't get why I need to move the fns into the closure when it's just a reference. What does move actually do here?

A reference is just a normal variable, like any other variable. If you don't move, your fns inside the closure will be a reference to a reference, which goes out of scope at the end of the function.

Related

FnOnce closures that capture an outer variable

I'm trying to write a function that will initialize n threads based on their index:
use std::iter::FromIterator;
use std::marker::{Send};
use std::thread::{JoinHandle, spawn};
// spawn n threads, initialized with their index
fn nspawn_i<F, T>(n: usize, f: F) -> Vec<JoinHandle<T>>
where
F: Fn(usize) -> T,
F: Send,
T: Send {
// spawn the i'th thread
let spawn_i = |mut i: usize| -> JoinHandle<T> {
spawn(move || f(i))
};
Vec::from_iter((0..n).map(spawn_i))
}
However, I get an error
error[E0525]: expected a closure that implements the `FnMut` trait, but this closure only implements `FnOnce`
--> src/main.rs:13:19
|
13 | let spawn_i = |mut i: usize| -> JoinHandle<T> {
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this closure implements `FnOnce`, not `FnMut`
14 | spawn(move || f(i))
| ------- closure is `FnOnce` because it moves the variable `f` out of its environment
...
17 | Vec::from_iter((0..n).map(spawn_i))
| --- the requirement to implement `FnMut` derives from here
I don't understand why spawn_i is FnOnce, and not FnMut, since the argument is mutable.
I don't understand why spawn_i is FnOnce, and not FnMut, since the argument is mutable.
The argument is not relevant, closure classifications is based on what they close over and how.
Here, the issue is that spawn_i consumes f when called:
when spawn_i is created, f is moved into it
when spawn_i is called the first time, it creates the sub-closure and f is moved into that
the second time spawn_i would be called... it can't be because there's no f to move into the sub-closure anymore
therefore spawn_i can only be called once.
So you need f to be reusable somehow e.g. store it in an Arc, or make it a function pointer (fn(usize) -> T) instead of a trait bound, or maybe play around with lifetimes.

Why is Rust forcing to use move in case of i32 while spawing threads?

I'm new to Rust and looks like I'm seriously missing some concept here.
use std::thread;
fn main() {
let mut children = vec![];
//spawn threads
for i in 0..10 {
let c = thread::spawn(|| {
println!("thread id is {}", i);
});
children.push(c);
}
for j in children {
j.join().expect("thread joining issue");
}
}
It fails with the error:
error[E0373]: closure may outlive the current function, but it borrows `i`, which is owned by the current function
Since the type of i is i32 , and there are no references involved shouldn't Rust copy the value instead of forcing to move ?
The answer to your original question is that println! borrows its arguments. However, as you pointed out in the comments, even (apparently) moving the integer into the closure still causes a compile error.
For the purposes of this answer, we'll work with this code.
fn use_closure<F: FnOnce() + 'static>(_: F) {}
fn main() {
let x: i32 = 0;
use_closure(|| {
let _y = x;
});
}
(playground)
use_closure simulates what thread::spawn does in the original code: it consumes a closure whose type has to be 'static.
Attempting to compile this gives the error
error[E0373]: closure may outlive the current function, but it borrows `x`, which is owned by the current function
--> src/main.rs:5:17
|
5 | use_closure(|| {
| ^^ may outlive borrowed value `x`
6 | let _y = x;
| - `x` is borrowed here
|
note: function requires argument type to outlive `'static`
--> src/main.rs:5:5
|
5 | / use_closure(|| {
6 | | let _y = x;
7 | | });
| |______^
help: to force the closure to take ownership of `x` (and any other referenced variables), use the `move` keyword
|
5 | use_closure(move || {
| ^^^^^^^
Wait, what?
6 | let _y = x;
| - `x` is borrowed here
Why is x borrowed there? Shouldn't it be a copy? The answer lies in "capture modes" for closures. From the documentation
The compiler prefers to capture a closed-over variable by immutable borrow, followed by unique immutable borrow (see below), by mutable borrow, and finally by move. It will pick the first choice of these that allows the closure to compile. The choice is made only with regards to the contents of the closure expression; the compiler does not take into account surrounding code, such as the lifetimes of involved variables.
Precisely because x has a Copy type, the closure itself can compile with a mere immutable borrow. Given an immutable borrow of x (call it bor), we can do our assignment to _y with _y = *bor. This isn't a "move out of data behind a reference" because this is a copy instead of a move.
However, since the closure borrows a local variable, its type won't be 'static, so it won't be usable in use_closure or thread::spawn.
Trying the same code with a type that isn't Copy, it actually works perfectly, since the closure is forced to capture x by moving it.
fn use_closure<F: FnOnce() + 'static>(_: F) {}
fn main() {
let x: Vec<i32> = vec![];
use_closure(|| {
let _y = x;
});
}
(playground)
Of course, as you already know, the solution is to use the move keyword in front of the closure. This forces all captured variables to be moved into the closure. Since the variable won't be borrowed, the closure will have a static type and will be able to be used in use_closure or thread::spawn.
fn use_closure<F: FnOnce() + 'static>(_: F) {}
fn main() {
let x: i32 = 0;
use_closure(move || {
let _y = x;
});
}
(playground)

Chain iterators to references of different lifetimies

I want to build a recursive function for traversing a tree in Rust. The function should always get the next element and an iterator over references to the ancestor elements.
For the iterator over ancestor elements, one could in principle use the chain and once methods. Consider the following simple example, where the tree is jsut a Vec (for the purpose of this demonstration):
fn proceed<'a, I>(mut remaining: Vec<String>, ancestors: I)
where
I: Iterator<Item = &'a String> + Clone,
{
if let Some(next) = remaining.pop() {
let next_ancestors = ancestors.chain(std::iter::once(&next));
proceed(remaining, next_ancestors);
}
}
Playground
This fails to compile because &next has a shorter lifetime than 'a:
error[E0597]: `next` does not live long enough
--> src/lib.rs:6:62
|
1 | fn proceed<'a, I>(mut remaining: Vec<String>, ancestors: I)
| -- lifetime `'a` defined here
...
6 | let next_ancestors = ancestors.chain(std::iter::once(&next));
| --------------------------------^^^^^--
| | |
| | borrowed value does not live long enough
| argument requires that `next` is borrowed for `'a`
7 | proceed(remaining, next_ancestors);
8 | }
| - `next` dropped here while still borrowed
I tried to overcome this by adding an explicit second lifetime 'b: 'a and forcing an explicit reference by something like let next_ref: &'b String = &next, but that yields a (different) error message as well.
One solution I came up with was to call map as follows:
let next_ancestors = ancestors.map(|r| r).chain(std::iter::once(&next));
As pointed out by #trentcl, this doesn't actually solve the problem, as the compiler then gets stuck in an infinite loop when compiling proceed for all the nested Chains when one actually tries to call the function.
The pieces of solution are already around, just to summarize:
As you already know, using map(|r| r) "decouples" the lifetime requirement of ancestors
from the lifetime of &next.
As already stated in the comments, fixing
the infinite recursion is a matter to change ancestors into a trait object.
fn proceed<'a>(mut remaining: Vec<String>, ancestors: &mut dyn Iterator<Item = &'a String>) {
if let Some(next) = remaining.pop() {
let mut next_ancestors = ancestors.map(|r| r).chain(std::iter::once(&next));
proceed(remaining, &mut next_ancestors);
}
}
fn main() {
let v = vec!["a".to_string(), "b".to_string()];
proceed(v, &mut std::iter::empty());
}

Why can I not return a mutable reference to an outer variable from a closure?

I was playing around with Rust closures when I hit this interesting scenario:
fn main() {
let mut y = 10;
let f = || &mut y;
f();
}
This gives an error:
error[E0495]: cannot infer an appropriate lifetime for borrow expression due to conflicting requirements
--> src/main.rs:4:16
|
4 | let f = || &mut y;
| ^^^^^^
|
note: first, the lifetime cannot outlive the lifetime as defined on the body at 4:13...
--> src/main.rs:4:13
|
4 | let f = || &mut y;
| ^^^^^^^^^
note: ...so that closure can access `y`
--> src/main.rs:4:16
|
4 | let f = || &mut y;
| ^^^^^^
note: but, the lifetime must be valid for the call at 6:5...
--> src/main.rs:6:5
|
6 | f();
| ^^^
note: ...so type `&mut i32` of expression is valid during the expression
--> src/main.rs:6:5
|
6 | f();
| ^^^
Even though the compiler is trying to explain it line by line, I still haven't understood what exactly it is complaining about.
Is it trying to say that the mutable reference cannot outlive the enclosing closure?
The compiler does not complain if I remove the call f().
Short version
The closure f stores a mutable reference to y. If it were allowed to return a copy of this reference, you would end up with two simultaneous mutable references to y (one in the closure, one returned), which is forbidden by Rust's memory safety rules.
Long version
The closure can be thought of as
struct __Closure<'a> {
y: &'a mut i32,
}
Since it contains a mutable reference, the closure is called as FnMut, essentially with the definition
fn call_mut(&mut self, args: ()) -> &'a mut i32 { self.y }
Since we only have a mutable reference to the closure itself, we can't move the field y out, neither are we able to copy it, since mutable references aren't Copy.
We can trick the compiler into accepting the code by forcing the closure to be called as FnOnce instead of FnMut. This code works fine:
fn main() {
let x = String::new();
let mut y: u32 = 10;
let f = || {
drop(x);
&mut y
};
f();
}
Since we are consuming x inside the scope of the closure and x is not Copy, the compiler detects that the closure can only be FnOnce. Calling an FnOnce closure passes the closure itself by value, so we are allowed to move the mutable reference out.
Another more explicit way to force the closure to be FnOnce is to pass it to a generic function with a trait bound. This code works fine as well:
fn make_fn_once<'a, T, F: FnOnce() -> T>(f: F) -> F {
f
}
fn main() {
let mut y: u32 = 10;
let f = make_fn_once(|| {
&mut y
});
f();
}
There are two main things at play here:
Closures cannot return references to their environment
A mutable reference to a mutable reference can only use the lifetime of the outer reference (unlike with immutable references)
Closures returning references to environment
Closures cannot return any references with the lifetime of self (the closure object). Why is that? Every closure can be called as FnOnce, since that's the super-trait of FnMut which in turn is the super-trait of Fn. FnOnce has this method:
fn call_once(self, args: Args) -> Self::Output;
Note that self is passed by value. So since self is consumed (and now lives within the call_once function`) we cannot return references to it -- that would be equivalent to returning references to a local function variable.
In theory, the call_mut would allow to return references to self (since it receives &mut self). But since call_once, call_mut and call are all implemented with the same body, closures in general cannot return references to self (that is: to their captured environment).
Just to be sure: closures can capture references and return those! And they can capture by reference and return that reference. Those things are something different. It's just about what is stored in the closure type. If there is a reference stored within the type, it can be returned. But we can't return references to anything stored within the closure type.
Nested mutable references
Consider this function (note that the argument type implies 'inner: 'outer; 'outer being shorter than 'inner):
fn foo<'outer, 'inner>(x: &'outer mut &'inner mut i32) -> &'inner mut i32 {
*x
}
This won't compile. On the first glance, it seems like it should compile, since we're just peeling one layer of references. And it does work for immutable references! But mutable references are different here to preserve soundness.
It's OK to return &'outer mut i32, though. But it's impossible to get a direct reference with the longer (inner) lifetime.
Manually writing the closure
Let's try to hand code the closure you were trying to write:
let mut y = 10;
struct Foo<'a>(&'a mut i32);
impl<'a> Foo<'a> {
fn call<'s>(&'s mut self) -> &'??? mut i32 { self.0 }
}
let mut f = Foo(&mut y);
f.call();
What lifetime should the returned reference have?
It can't be 'a, because we basically have a &'s mut &'a mut i32. And as discussed above, in such a nested mutable reference situation, we can't extract the longer lifetime!
But it also can't be 's since that would mean the closure returns something with the lifetime of 'self ("borrowed from self"). And as discussed above, closures can't do that.
So the compiler can't generate the closure impls for us.
Consider this code:
fn main() {
let mut y: u32 = 10;
let ry = &mut y;
let f = || ry;
f();
}
It works because the compiler is able to infer ry's lifetime: the reference ry lives in the same scope of y.
Now, the equivalent version of your code:
fn main() {
let mut y: u32 = 10;
let f = || {
let ry = &mut y;
ry
};
f();
}
Now the compiler assigns to ry a lifetime associated to the scope of the closure body, not to the lifetime associated with the main body.
Also note that the immutable reference case works:
fn main() {
let mut y: u32 = 10;
let f = || {
let ry = &y;
ry
};
f();
}
This is because &T has copy semantics and &mut T has move semantics, see Copy/move semantics documentation of &T/&mut T types itself for more details.
The missing piece
The compiler throws an error related to a lifetime:
cannot infer an appropriate lifetime for borrow expression due to conflicting requirements
but as pointed out by Sven Marnach there is also a problem related to the error
cannot move out of borrowed content
But why doesn't the compiler throw this error?
The short answer is that the compiler first executes type checking and then borrow checking.
the long answer
A closure is made up of two pieces:
the state of the closure: a struct containing all the variables captured by the closure
the logic of the closure: an implementation of the FnOnce, FnMut or Fn trait
In this case the state of the closure is the mutable reference y and the logic is the body of the closure { &mut y } that simply returns a mutable reference.
When a reference is encountered, Rust controls two aspects:
the state: if the reference points to a valid memory slice, (i.e. the read-only part of lifetime validity);
the logic: if the memory slice is aliased, in other words if it is pointed from more than one reference simultaneously;
Note the move out from borrowed content is forbidden for avoiding memory aliasing.
The Rust compiler executes its job through several stages, here's a simplified workflow:
.rs input -> AST -> HIR -> HIR postprocessing -> MIR -> HIR postprocessing -> LLVM IR -> binary
The compiler reports a lifetime problem because it first executes the type checking phase in HIR postprocessing (which comprises lifetime analysis) and after that, if successful, executes borrow checking in the MIR postprocessing phase.

How to define lifetimes properly in closure

impl Rate for Vec<VolumeRanged> {
fn costs<'a, I>(&'a self, issues: &I, period: u32) -> Box<'a + Iterator<Item = f32>>
where
I: IntoIterator<Item=f32>,
I::IntoIter: 'a
{
fn issue_cost(issue: f32, percentage: f32, constant: f32, max: f32) -> f32 {
let r = issue * percentage / 100.0 + constant;
match r.partial_cmp(&max) {
Some(Less) => r,
_ => max
}
}
Box::new(issues.into_iter().map(|i| {
let (pr, nr) = pairwise(self)
.find(|&(_, n)| in_range(&i, &n.range))
.expect("No range found");
issue_cost(
i,
nr.percentage,
pr.map_or(0.0, |x| x.max),
nr.max,
)
}))
}
}
Rust is saying
error[E0373]: closure may outlive the current function, but it borrows `self`, which is owned by the current function
--> src/main.rs:43:41
|
43 | Box::new(issues.into_iter().map(|i| {
| ^^^ may outlive borrowed value `self`
44 | let (pr, nr) = pairwise(self)
| ---- `self` is borrowed here
|
help: to force the closure to take ownership of `self` (and any other referenced variables), use the `move` keyword
|
43 | Box::new(issues.into_iter().map(move |i| {
| ^
But I don't want to move ownership into closure. What I want is that returned boxed iterator should live as long as both self and issues. As soon as they go away - it should go away.
I know that this can be solved by passing cloned iterator to issues instead of a reference to it, I don't think that It's needed here.
playground
Add move to the closure. self has type &Vec<VolumeRanged>, so closure will not take ownership of the vector, it will capture the reference to the vector.

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