struct Point { x: isize, y: isize } fn a() { let mut p = Point {x: 3, y: 4}; let q = &p; // This assignment is illegal because the field x is not // inherently mutable; since `p` was made immutable, `p.x` is now // immutable. Otherwise the type of &_q.x (&isize) would be wrong. p.x = 5; //~ ERROR cannot assign to `p.x` because it is borrowed q.x; } fn c() { // this is sort of the opposite. We take a loan to the interior of `p` // and then try to overwrite `p` as a whole. let mut p = Point {x: 3, y: 4}; let q = &p.y; p = Point {x: 5, y: 7};//~ ERROR cannot assign to `p` because it is borrowed p.x; // silence warning *q; // stretch loan } fn d() { // just for completeness's sake, the easy case, where we take the // address of a subcomponent and then modify that subcomponent: let mut p = Point {x: 3, y: 4}; let q = &p.y; p.y = 5; //~ ERROR cannot assign to `p.y` because it is borrowed *q; } fn main() { }