The match Control Flow Operator - The Rust Programming Language

## The `match` Control Flow Operator

Rust has an extremely powerful control flow operator called `match` that allows you to compare a value against a series of patterns and then execute code based on which pattern matches. Patterns can be made up of literal values, variable names, wildcards, and many other things; Chapter 18 covers all the different kinds of patterns and what they do. The power of `match` comes from the expressiveness of the patterns and the fact that the compiler confirms that all possible cases are handled.

Think of a `match` expression as being like a coin-sorting machine: coins slide down a track with variously sized holes along it, and each coin falls through the first hole it encounters that it fits into. In the same way, values go through each pattern in a `match`, and at the first pattern the value “fits,” the value falls into the associated code block to be used during execution.

Because we just mentioned coins, let’s use them as an example using `match`! We can write a function that can take an unknown United States coin and, in a similar way as the counting machine, determine which coin it is and return its value in cents, as shown here in Listing 6-3.

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    enum Coin {
        Penny,
        Nickel,
        Dime,
        Quarter,
    }

    fn value_in_cents(coin: Coin) -> u32 {
        match coin {
            Coin::Penny => 1,
            Coin::Nickel => 5,
            Coin::Dime => 10,
            Coin::Quarter => 25,
        }
    }
    #}

Listing 6-3: An enum and a `match` expression that has the variants of the enum as its patterns

Let’s break down the `match` in the `value_in_cents` function. First, we list the `match` keyword followed by an expression, which in this case is the value `coin`. This seems very similar to an expression used with `if`, but there’s a big difference: with `if`, the expression needs to return a Boolean value, but here, it can be any type. The type of `coin` in this example is the `Coin` enum that we defined on line 1.

Next are the `match` arms. An arm has two parts: a pattern and some code. The first arm here has a pattern that is the value `Coin::Penny` and then the `=>` operator that separates the pattern and the code to run. The code in this case is just the value `1`. Each arm is separated from the next with a comma.

When the `match` expression executes, it compares the resulting value against the pattern of each arm, in order. If a pattern matches the value, the code associated with that pattern is executed. If that pattern doesn’t match the value, execution continues to the next arm, much as in a coin-sorting machine. We can have as many arms as we need: in Listing 6-3, our `match` has four arms.

The code associated with each arm is an expression, and the resulting value of the expression in the matching arm is the value that gets returned for the entire `match` expression.

Curly brackets typically aren’t used if the match arm code is short, as it is in Listing 6-3 where each arm just returns a value. If you want to run multiple lines of code in a match arm, you can use curly brackets. For example, the following code would print “Lucky penny!” every time the method was called with a `Coin::Penny` but would still return the last value of the block, `1`:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    # enum Coin {
    #    Penny,
    #    Nickel,
    #    Dime,
    #    Quarter,
    # }
    #
    fn value_in_cents(coin: Coin) -> u32 {
        match coin {
            Coin::Penny => {
                println!("Lucky penny!");
                1
            },
            Coin::Nickel => 5,
            Coin::Dime => 10,
            Coin::Quarter => 25,
        }
    }
    #}

### Patterns that Bind to Values

Another useful feature of match arms is that they can bind to the parts of the values that match the pattern. This is how we can extract values out of enum variants.

As an example, let’s change one of our enum variants to hold data inside it. From 1999 through 2008, the United States minted quarters with different designs for each of the 50 states on one side. No other coins got state designs, so only quarters have this extra value. We can add this information to our `enum` by changing the `Quarter` variant to include a `UsState` value stored inside it, which we’ve done here in Listing 6-4.

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    #[derive(Debug)] // so we can inspect the state in a minute
    enum UsState {
        Alabama,
        Alaska,
        // --snip--
    }

    enum Coin {
        Penny,
        Nickel,
        Dime,
        Quarter(UsState),
    }
    #}

Listing 6-4: A `Coin` enum in which the `Quarter` variant also holds a `UsState` value

Let’s imagine that a friend of ours is trying to collect all 50 state quarters. While we sort our loose change by coin type, we’ll also call out the name of the state associated with each quarter so if it’s one our friend doesn’t have, they can add it to their collection.

In the match expression for this code, we add a variable called `state` to the pattern that matches values of the variant `Coin::Quarter`. When a `Coin::Quarter` matches, the `state` variable will bind to the value of that quarter’s state. Then we can use `state` in the code for that arm, like so:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    # #[derive(Debug)]
    # enum UsState {
    #    Alabama,
    #    Alaska,
    # }
    #
    # enum Coin {
    #    Penny,
    #    Nickel,
    #    Dime,
    #    Quarter(UsState),
    # }
    #
    fn value_in_cents(coin: Coin) -> u32 {
        match coin {
            Coin::Penny => 1,
            Coin::Nickel => 5,
            Coin::Dime => 10,
            Coin::Quarter(state) => {
                println!("State quarter from {:?}!", state);
                25
            },
        }
    }
    #}

If we were to call `value_in_cents(Coin::Quarter(UsState::Alaska))`, `coin` would be `Coin::Quarter(UsState::Alaska)`. When we compare that value with each of the match arms, none of them match until we reach `Coin::Quarter(state)`. At that point, the binding for `state` will be the value `UsState::Alaska`. We can then use that binding in the `println!` expression, thus getting the inner state value out of the `Coin` enum variant for `Quarter`.

### Matching with `Option<T>`

In the previous section, we wanted to get the inner `T` value out of the `Some` case when using `Option<T>`; we can also handle `Option<T>` using `match` as we did with the `Coin` enum! Instead of comparing coins, we’ll compare the variants of `Option<T>`, but the way that the `match` expression works remains the same.

Let’s say we want to write a function that takes an `Option<i32>` and, if there’s a value inside, adds 1 to that value. If there isn’t a value inside, the function should return the `None` value and not attempt to perform any operations.

This function is very easy to write, thanks to `match`, and will look like Listing 6-5.

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    fn plus_one(x: Option<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
        match x {
            None => None,
            Some(i) => Some(i + 1),
        }
    }

    let five = Some(5);
    let six = plus_one(five);
    let none = plus_one(None);
    #}

Listing 6-5: A function that uses a `match` expression on an `Option<i32>`

Let’s examine the first execution of `plus_one` in more detail. When we call `plus_one(five)`, the variable `x` in the body of `plus_one` will have the value `Some(5)`. We then compare that against each match arm.

    None => None,

The `Some(5)` value doesn’t match the pattern `None`, so we continue to the next arm.

    Some(i) => Some(i + 1),

Does `Some(5)` match `Some(i)`? Why yes it does! We have the same variant. The `i` binds to the value contained in `Some`, so `i` takes the value `5`. The code in the match arm is then executed, so we add 1 to the value of `i` and create a new `Some` value with our total `6` inside.

Now let’s consider the second call of `plus_one` in Listing 6-5, where `x` is `None`. We enter the `match` and compare to the first arm.

    None => None,

It matches! There’s no value to add to, so the program stops and returns the `None` value on the right side of `=>`. Because the first arm matched, no other arms are compared.

Combining `match` and enums is useful in many situations. You’ll see this pattern a lot in Rust code: `match` against an enum, bind a variable to the data inside, and then execute code based on it. It’s a bit tricky at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll wish you had it in all languages. It’s consistently a user favorite.

### Matches Are Exhaustive

There’s one other aspect of `match` we need to discuss. Consider this version of our `plus_one` function that has a bug and won’t compile:

    fn plus_one(x: Option<i32>) -> Option<i32> {
        match x {
            Some(i) => Some(i + 1),
        }
    }

We didn’t handle the `None` case, so this code will cause a bug. Luckily, it’s a bug Rust knows how to catch. If we try to compile this code, we’ll get this error:

    error[E0004]: non-exhaustive patterns: `None` not covered
     -->
      |
    6 |         match x {
      |               ^ pattern `None` not covered

Rust knows that we didn’t cover every possible case and even knows which pattern we forgot! Matches in Rust are exhaustive: we must exhaust every last possibility in order for the code to be valid. Especially in the case of `Option<T>`, when Rust prevents us from forgetting to explicitly handle the `None` case, it protects us from assuming that we have a value when we might have null, thus making the billion-dollar mistake discussed earlier.

### The `_` Placeholder

Rust also has a pattern we can use when we don’t want to list all possible values. For example, a `u8` can have valid values of 0 through 255. If we only care about the values 1, 3, 5, and 7, we don’t want to have to list out 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9 all the way up to 255. Fortunately, we don’t have to: we can use the special pattern `_` instead:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    let some_u8_value = 0u8;
    match some_u8_value {
        1 => println!("one"),
        3 => println!("three"),
        5 => println!("five"),
        7 => println!("seven"),
        _ => (),
    }
    #}

The `_` pattern will match any value. By putting it after our other arms, the `_` will match all the possible cases that aren’t specified before it. The `()` is just the unit value, so nothing will happen in the `_` case. As a result, we can say that we want to do nothing for all the possible values that we don’t list before the `_` placeholder.

However, the `match` expression can be a bit wordy in a situation in which we care about only one of the cases. For this situation, Rust provides `if let`.