Panics the current thread. This allows a program to terminate immediately and provide feedback to the caller of the program. This macro is the perfect way to assert conditions in example code and in tests. `panic!` is closely tied with the `unwrap` method of both [`Option`][ounwrap] and [`Result`][runwrap] enums. Both implementations call `panic!` when they are set to [`None`] or [`Err`] variants. When using `panic!()` you can specify a string payload that is built using [formatting syntax]. That payload is used when injecting the panic into the calling Rust thread, causing the thread to panic entirely. The behavior of the default `std` hook, i.e. the code that runs directly after the panic is invoked, is to print the message payload to `stderr` along with the file/line/column information of the `panic!()` call. You can override the panic hook using [`std::panic::set_hook()`]. Inside the hook a panic can be accessed as a `&dyn Any + Send`, which contains either a `&str` or `String` for regular `panic!()` invocations. (Whether a particular invocation contains the payload at type `&str` or `String` is unspecified and can change.) To panic with a value of another other type, [`panic_any`] can be used. See also the macro [`compile_error!`], for raising errors during compilation. # When to use `panic!` vs `Result` The Rust language provides two complementary systems for constructing / representing, reporting, propagating, reacting to, and discarding errors. These responsibilities are collectively known as "error handling." `panic!` and `Result` are similar in that they are each the primary interface of their respective error handling systems; however, the meaning these interfaces attach to their errors and the responsibilities they fulfill within their respective error handling systems differ. The `panic!` macro is used to construct errors that represent a bug that has been detected in your program. With `panic!` you provide a message that describes the bug and the language then constructs an error with that message, reports it, and propagates it for you. `Result` on the other hand is used to wrap other types that represent either the successful result of some computation, `Ok(T)`, or error types that represent an anticipated runtime failure mode of that computation, `Err(E)`. `Result` is used alongside user defined types which represent the various anticipated runtime failure modes that the associated computation could encounter. `Result` must be propagated manually, often with the help of the `?` operator and `Try` trait, and they must be reported manually, often with the help of the `Error` trait. For more detailed information about error handling check out the [book] or the [`std::result`] module docs. [ounwrap]: Option::unwrap [runwrap]: Result::unwrap [`std::panic::set_hook()`]: ../std/panic/fn.set_hook.html [`panic_any`]: ../std/panic/fn.panic_any.html [`Box`]: ../std/boxed/struct.Box.html [`Any`]: crate::any::Any [`format!` syntax]: ../std/fmt/index.html [book]: ../book/ch09-00-error-handling.html [`std::result`]: ../std/result/index.html # Current implementation If the main thread panics it will terminate all your threads and end your program with code `101`. # Editions Behavior of the panic macros changed over editions. ## 2021 and later In Rust 2021 and later, `panic!` always requires a format string and the applicable format arguments, and is the same in `core` and `std`. Use [`std::panic::panic_any(x)`](../std/panic/fn.panic_any.html) to panic with an arbitrary payload. ## 2018 and 2015 In Rust Editions prior to 2021, `std::panic!(x)` with a single argument directly uses that argument as a payload. This is true even if the argument is a string literal. For example, `panic!("problem: {reason}")` panics with a payload of literally `"problem: {reason}"` (a `&'static str`). `core::panic!(x)` with a single argument requires that `x` be `&str`, but otherwise behaves like `std::panic!`. In particular, the string need not be a literal, and is not interpreted as a format string. # Examples ```should_panic # #![allow(unreachable_code)] panic!(); panic!("this is a terrible mistake!"); panic!("this is a {} {message}", "fancy", message = "message"); std::panic::panic_any(4); // panic with the value of 4 to be collected elsewhere ```