//! Utilities related to FFI bindings. //! //! This module provides utilities to handle data across non-Rust //! interfaces, like other programming languages and the underlying //! operating system. It is mainly of use for FFI (Foreign Function //! Interface) bindings and code that needs to exchange C-like strings //! with other languages. //! //! # Overview //! //! Rust represents owned strings with the [`String`] type, and //! borrowed slices of strings with the [`str`] primitive. Both are //! always in UTF-8 encoding, and may contain nul bytes in the middle, //! i.e., if you look at the bytes that make up the string, there may //! be a `\0` among them. Both `String` and `str` store their length //! explicitly; there are no nul terminators at the end of strings //! like in C. //! //! C strings are different from Rust strings: //! //! * **Encodings** - Rust strings are UTF-8, but C strings may use //! other encodings. If you are using a string from C, you should //! check its encoding explicitly, rather than just assuming that it //! is UTF-8 like you can do in Rust. //! //! * **Character size** - C strings may use `char` or `wchar_t`-sized //! characters; please **note** that C's `char` is different from Rust's. //! The C standard leaves the actual sizes of those types open to //! interpretation, but defines different APIs for strings made up of //! each character type. Rust strings are always UTF-8, so different //! Unicode characters will be encoded in a variable number of bytes //! each. The Rust type [`char`] represents a '[Unicode scalar //! value]', which is similar to, but not the same as, a '[Unicode //! code point]'. //! //! * **Nul terminators and implicit string lengths** - Often, C //! strings are nul-terminated, i.e., they have a `\0` character at the //! end. The length of a string buffer is not stored, but has to be //! calculated; to compute the length of a string, C code must //! manually call a function like `strlen()` for `char`-based strings, //! or `wcslen()` for `wchar_t`-based ones. Those functions return //! the number of characters in the string excluding the nul //! terminator, so the buffer length is really `len+1` characters. //! Rust strings don't have a nul terminator; their length is always //! stored and does not need to be calculated. While in Rust //! accessing a string's length is an *O*(1) operation (because the //! length is stored); in C it is an *O*(*n*) operation because the //! length needs to be computed by scanning the string for the nul //! terminator. //! //! * **Internal nul characters** - When C strings have a nul //! terminator character, this usually means that they cannot have nul //! characters in the middle — a nul character would essentially //! truncate the string. Rust strings *can* have nul characters in //! the middle, because nul does not have to mark the end of the //! string in Rust. //! //! # Representations of non-Rust strings //! //! [`CString`] and [`CStr`] are useful when you need to transfer //! UTF-8 strings to and from languages with a C ABI, like Python. //! //! * **From Rust to C:** [`CString`] represents an owned, C-friendly //! string: it is nul-terminated, and has no internal nul characters. //! Rust code can create a [`CString`] out of a normal string (provided //! that the string doesn't have nul characters in the middle), and //! then use a variety of methods to obtain a raw \*mut [u8] that can //! then be passed as an argument to functions which use the C //! conventions for strings. //! //! * **From C to Rust:** [`CStr`] represents a borrowed C string; it //! is what you would use to wrap a raw \*const [u8] that you got from //! a C function. A [`CStr`] is guaranteed to be a nul-terminated array //! of bytes. Once you have a [`CStr`], you can convert it to a Rust //! &[str] if it's valid UTF-8, or lossily convert it by adding //! replacement characters. //! //! [`OsString`] and [`OsStr`] are useful when you need to transfer //! strings to and from the operating system itself, or when capturing //! the output of external commands. Conversions between [`OsString`], //! [`OsStr`] and Rust strings work similarly to those for [`CString`] //! and [`CStr`]. //! //! * [`OsString`] losslessly represents an owned platform string. However, this //! representation is not necessarily in a form native to the platform. //! In the Rust standard library, various APIs that transfer strings to/from the operating //! system use [`OsString`] instead of plain strings. For example, //! [`env::var_os()`] is used to query environment variables; it //! returns an [Option]<[OsString]>. If the environment variable //! exists you will get a [Some]\(os_string), which you can //! *then* try to convert to a Rust string. This yields a [`Result`], so that //! your code can detect errors in case the environment variable did //! not in fact contain valid Unicode data. //! //! * [`OsStr`] losslessly represents a borrowed reference to a platform string. //! However, this representation is not necessarily in a form native to the platform. //! It can be converted into a UTF-8 Rust string slice in a similar way to //! [`OsString`]. //! //! # Conversions //! //! ## On Unix //! //! On Unix, [`OsStr`] implements the //! std::os::unix::ffi::[OsStrExt][unix.OsStrExt] trait, which //! augments it with two methods, [`from_bytes`] and [`as_bytes`]. //! These do inexpensive conversions from and to byte slices. //! //! Additionally, on Unix [`OsString`] implements the //! std::os::unix::ffi::[OsStringExt][unix.OsStringExt] trait, //! which provides [`from_vec`] and [`into_vec`] methods that consume //! their arguments, and take or produce vectors of [`u8`]. //! //! ## On Windows //! //! An [`OsStr`] can be losslessly converted to a native Windows string. And //! a native Windows string can be losslessly converted to an [`OsString`]. //! //! On Windows, [`OsStr`] implements the //! std::os::windows::ffi::[OsStrExt][windows.OsStrExt] trait, //! which provides an [`encode_wide`] method. This provides an //! iterator that can be [`collect`]ed into a vector of [`u16`]. After a nul //! characters is appended, this is the same as a native Windows string. //! //! Additionally, on Windows [`OsString`] implements the //! std::os::windows:ffi::[OsStringExt][windows.OsStringExt] //! trait, which provides a [`from_wide`] method to convert a native Windows //! string (without the terminating nul character) to an [`OsString`]. //! //! [Unicode scalar value]: https://www.unicode.org/glossary/#unicode_scalar_value //! [Unicode code point]: https://www.unicode.org/glossary/#code_point //! [`env::set_var()`]: crate::env::set_var "env::set_var" //! [`env::var_os()`]: crate::env::var_os "env::var_os" //! [unix.OsStringExt]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt "os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt" //! [`from_vec`]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt::from_vec "os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt::from_vec" //! [`into_vec`]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt::into_vec "os::unix::ffi::OsStringExt::into_vec" //! [unix.OsStrExt]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt "os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt" //! [`from_bytes`]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt::from_bytes "os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt::from_bytes" //! [`as_bytes`]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt::as_bytes "os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt::as_bytes" //! [`OsStrExt`]: crate::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt "os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt" //! [windows.OsStrExt]: crate::os::windows::ffi::OsStrExt "os::windows::ffi::OsStrExt" //! [`encode_wide`]: crate::os::windows::ffi::OsStrExt::encode_wide "os::windows::ffi::OsStrExt::encode_wide" //! [`collect`]: crate::iter::Iterator::collect "iter::Iterator::collect" //! [windows.OsStringExt]: crate::os::windows::ffi::OsStringExt "os::windows::ffi::OsStringExt" //! [`from_wide`]: crate::os::windows::ffi::OsStringExt::from_wide "os::windows::ffi::OsStringExt::from_wide" #![stable(feature = "rust1", since = "1.0.0")] #[stable(feature = "alloc_c_string", since = "1.64.0")] pub use alloc::ffi::{CString, FromVecWithNulError, IntoStringError, NulError}; #[stable(feature = "core_c_str", since = "1.64.0")] pub use core::ffi::{CStr, FromBytesWithNulError}; #[stable(feature = "rust1", since = "1.0.0")] pub use self::os_str::{OsStr, OsString}; #[stable(feature = "core_ffi_c", since = "1.64.0")] pub use core::ffi::{ c_char, c_double, c_float, c_int, c_long, c_longlong, c_schar, c_short, c_uchar, c_uint, c_ulong, c_ulonglong, c_ushort, }; #[stable(feature = "core_c_void", since = "1.30.0")] pub use core::ffi::c_void; #[unstable( feature = "c_variadic", reason = "the `c_variadic` feature has not been properly tested on \ all supported platforms", issue = "44930" )] pub use core::ffi::{VaList, VaListImpl}; mod os_str;