Literals - Rust By Example
Description: A description

# Literals

Numeric literals can be type annotated by adding the type as a suffix. As an example, to specify that the literal `42` should have the type `i32`, write `42i32`.

The type of unsuffixed numeric literals will depend on how they are used. If no constraint exists, the compiler will use `i32` for integers, and `f64` for floating-point numbers.

    fn main() {
        // Suffixed literals, their types are known at initialization
        let x = 1u8;
        let y = 2u32;
        let z = 3f32;

        // Unsuffixed literal, their types depend on how they are used
        let i = 1;
        let f = 1.0;

        // `size_of_val` returns the size of a variable in bytes
        println!("size of `x` in bytes: {}", std::mem::size_of_val(&x));
        println!("size of `y` in bytes: {}", std::mem::size_of_val(&y));
        println!("size of `z` in bytes: {}", std::mem::size_of_val(&z));
        println!("size of `i` in bytes: {}", std::mem::size_of_val(&i));
        println!("size of `f` in bytes: {}", std::mem::size_of_val(&f));
    }

There are some concepts used in the previous code that haven't been explained yet, here's a brief explanation for the impatient readers:

- `fun(&foo)` is used to pass an argument to a function by reference, rather than by value (`fun(foo)`). For more details see borrowing.
- `std::mem::size_of_val` is a function, but called with its full path. Code can be split in logical units called modules. In this case, the `size_of_val` function is defined in the `mem` module, and the `mem` module is defined in the `std` crate. For more details, see modules and crates.