Closures: Anonymous Functions that Capture Their Environment

Rust's closures are anonymous functions you can save in a variable or pass as arguments to other functions. You can create the closure in one place and then call the closure elsewhere to evaluate it in a different context. Unlike functions, closures can capture values from the scope in which they're defined. We'll demonstrate how these closure features allow for code reuse and behavior customization.

Capturing the Environment with Closures

We'll first examine how we can use closures to capture values from the environment they're defined in for later use. Here's the scenario: Every so often, our t-shirt company gives away an exclusive, limited-edition shirt to someone on our mailing list as a promotion. People on the mailing list can optionally add their favorite color to their profile. If the person chosen for a free shirt has their favorite color set, they get that color shirt. If the person hasn't specified a favorite color, they get whatever color the company currently has the most of.

There are many ways to implement this. For this example, we're going to use an enum called ShirtColor that has the variants Red and Blue (limiting the number of colors available for simplicity). We represent the company's inventory with an Inventory struct that has a field named shirts that contains a Vec<ShirtColor> representing the shirt colors currently in stock. The method giveaway defined on Inventory gets the optional shirt color preference of the free shirt winner, and returns the shirt color the person will get. This setup is shown in Listing 13-1:

Filename: src/main.rs

#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Copy, Clone)]
enum ShirtColor {
    Red,
    Blue,
}

struct Inventory {
    shirts: Vec<ShirtColor>,
}

impl Inventory {
    fn giveaway(&self, user_preference: Option<ShirtColor>) -> ShirtColor {
        user_preference.unwrap_or_else(|| self.most_stocked())
    }

    fn most_stocked(&self) -> ShirtColor {
        let mut num_red = 0;
        let mut num_blue = 0;

        for color in &self.shirts {
            match color {
                ShirtColor::Red => num_red += 1,
                ShirtColor::Blue => num_blue += 1,
            }
        }
        if num_red > num_blue {
            ShirtColor::Red
        } else {
            ShirtColor::Blue
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    let store = Inventory {
        shirts: vec![ShirtColor::Blue, ShirtColor::Red, ShirtColor::Blue],
    };

    let user_pref1 = Some(ShirtColor::Red);
    let giveaway1 = store.giveaway(user_pref1);
    println!(
        "The user with preference {:?} gets {:?}",
        user_pref1, giveaway1
    );

    let user_pref2 = None;
    let giveaway2 = store.giveaway(user_pref2);
    println!(
        "The user with preference {:?} gets {:?}",
        user_pref2, giveaway2
    );
}

Listing 13-1: Shirt company giveaway situation

The store defined in main has two blue shirts and one red shirt remaining to distribute for this limited-edition promotion. We call the giveaway method for a user with a preference for a red shirt and a user without any preference.

Again, this code could be implemented in many ways, and here, to focus on closures, we've stuck to concepts you've already learned except for the body of the giveaway method that uses a closure. In the giveaway method, we get the user preference as a parameter of type Option<ShirtColor> and call the unwrap_or_else method on user_preference. The unwrap_or_else method on Option<T> is defined by the standard library. It takes one argument: a closure without any arguments that returns a value T (the same type stored in the Some variant of the Option<T>, in this case ShirtColor). If the Option<T> is the Some variant, unwrap_or_else returns the value from within the Some. If the Option<T> is the None variant, unwrap_or_else calls the closure and returns the value returned by the closure.

We specify the closure expression || self.most_stocked() as the argument to unwrap_or_else. This is a closure that takes no parameters itself (if the closure had parameters, they would appear between the two vertical bars). The body of the closure calls self.most_stocked(). We're defining the closure here, and the implementation of unwrap_or_else will evaluate the closure later if the result is needed.

Running this code prints:

$ cargo run
   Compiling shirt-company v0.1.0 (file:///projects/shirt-company)
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.27s
     Running `target/debug/shirt-company`
The user with preference Some(Red) gets Red
The user with preference None gets Blue

One interesting aspect here is that we've passed a closure that calls self.most_stocked() on the current Inventory instance. The standard library didn't need to know anything about the Inventory or ShirtColor types we defined, or the logic we want to use in this scenario. The closure captures an immutable reference to the self Inventory instance and passes it with the code we specify to the unwrap_or_else method. Functions, on the other hand, are not able to capture their environment in this way.

Closure Type Inference and Annotation

There are more differences between functions and closures. Closures don't usually require you to annotate the types of the parameters or the return value like fn functions do. Type annotations are required on functions because the types are part of an explicit interface exposed to your users. Defining this interface rigidly is important for ensuring that everyone agrees on what types of values a function uses and returns. Closures, on the other hand, aren't used in an exposed interface like this: they're stored in variables and used without naming them and exposing them to users of our library.

Closures are typically short and relevant only within a narrow context rather than in any arbitrary scenario. Within these limited contexts, the compiler can infer the types of the parameters and the return type, similar to how it's able to infer the types of most variables (there are rare cases where the compiler needs closure type annotations too).

As with variables, we can add type annotations if we want to increase explicitness and clarity at the cost of being more verbose than is strictly necessary. Annotating the types for a closure would look like the definition shown in Listing 13-2. In this example, we're defining a closure and storing it in a variable rather than defining the closure in the spot we pass it as an argument as we did in Listing 13-1.

Filename: src/main.rs

use std::thread;
use std::time::Duration;

fn generate_workout(intensity: u32, random_number: u32) {
    let expensive_closure = |num: u32| -> u32 {
        println!("calculating slowly...");
        thread::sleep(Duration::from_secs(2));
        num
    };

    if intensity < 25 {
        println!("Today, do {} pushups!", expensive_closure(intensity));
        println!("Next, do {} situps!", expensive_closure(intensity));
    } else {
        if random_number == 3 {
            println!("Take a break today! Remember to stay hydrated!");
        } else {
            println!(
                "Today, run for {} minutes!",
                expensive_closure(intensity)
            );
        }
    }
}

fn main() {
    let simulated_user_specified_value = 10;
    let simulated_random_number = 7;

    generate_workout(simulated_user_specified_value, simulated_random_number);
}

Listing 13-2: Adding optional type annotations of the parameter and return value types in the closure

With type annotations added, the syntax of closures looks more similar to the syntax of functions. Here we define a function that adds 1 to its parameter and a closure that has the same behavior, for comparison. We've added some spaces to line up the relevant parts. This illustrates how closure syntax is similar to function syntax except for the use of pipes and the amount of syntax that is optional:

fn  add_one_v1   (x: u32) -> u32 { x + 1 }
let add_one_v2 = |x: u32| -> u32 { x + 1 };
let add_one_v3 = |x|             { x + 1 };
let add_one_v4 = |x|               x + 1  ;

The first line shows a function definition, and the second line shows a fully annotated closure definition. In the third line, we remove the type annotations from the closure definition. In the fourth line, we remove the brackets, which are optional because the closure body has only one expression. These are all valid definitions that will produce the same behavior when they're called. The add_one_v3 and add_one_v4 lines require the closures to be evaluated to be able to compile because the types will be inferred from their usage. This is similar to let v = Vec::new(); needing either type annotations or values of some type to be inserted into the Vec for Rust to be able to infer the type.

For closure definitions, the compiler will infer one concrete type for each of their parameters and for their return value. For instance, Listing 13-3 shows the definition of a short closure that just returns the value it receives as a parameter. This closure isn't very useful except for the purposes of this example. Note that we haven't added any type annotations to the definition. Because there are no type annotations, we can call the closure with any type, which we've done here with String the first time. If we then try to call example_closure with an integer, we'll get an error.

Filename: src/main.rs

fn main() {
    let example_closure = |x| x;

    let s = example_closure(String::from("hello"));
    let n = example_closure(5);
}

Listing 13-3: Attempting to call a closure whose types are inferred with two different types

The compiler gives us this error:

$ cargo run
   Compiling closure-example v0.1.0 (file:///projects/closure-example)
error[E0308]: mismatched types
 --> src/main.rs:5:29
  |
5 |     let n = example_closure(5);
  |             --------------- ^- help: try using a conversion method: `.to_string()`
  |             |               |
  |             |               expected `String`, found integer
  |             arguments to this function are incorrect
  |
note: expected because the closure was earlier called with an argument of type `String`
 --> src/main.rs:4:29
  |
4 |     let s = example_closure(String::from("hello"));
  |             --------------- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ expected because this argument is of type `String`
  |             |
  |             in this closure call
note: closure parameter defined here
 --> src/main.rs:2:28
  |
2 |     let example_closure = |x| x;
  |                            ^

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0308`.
error: could not compile `closure-example` (bin "closure-example") due to 1 previous error

The first time we call example_closure with the String value, the compiler infers the type of x and the return type of the closure to be String. Those types are then locked into the closure in example_closure, and we get a type error when we next try to use a different type with the same closure.

Capturing References or Moving Ownership

Closures can capture values from their environment in three ways, which directly map to the three ways a function can take a parameter: borrowing immutably, borrowing mutably, and taking ownership. The closure will decide which of these to use based on what the body of the function does with the captured values.

In Listing 13-4, we define a closure that captures an immutable reference to the vector named list because it only needs an immutable reference to print the value:

Filename: src/main.rs

fn main() {
    let list = vec![1, 2, 3];
    println!("Before defining closure: {list:?}");

    let only_borrows = || println!("From closure: {list:?}");

    println!("Before calling closure: {list:?}");
    only_borrows();
    println!("After calling closure: {list:?}");
}

Listing 13-4: Defining and calling a closure that captures an immutable reference

This example also illustrates that a variable can bind to a closure definition, and we can later call the closure by using the variable name and parentheses as if the variable name were a function name.

Because we can have multiple immutable references to list at the same time, list is still accessible from the code before the closure definition, after the closure definition but before the closure is called, and after the closure is called. This code compiles, runs, and prints:

$ cargo run
   Compiling closure-example v0.1.0 (file:///projects/closure-example)
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.43s
     Running `target/debug/closure-example`
Before defining closure: [1, 2, 3]
Before calling closure: [1, 2, 3]
From closure: [1, 2, 3]
After calling closure: [1, 2, 3]

Next, in Listing 13-5, we change the closure body so that it adds an element to the list vector. The closure now captures a mutable reference:

Filename: src/main.rs

fn main() {
    let mut list = vec![1, 2, 3];
    println!("Before defining closure: {list:?}");

    let mut borrows_mutably = || list.push(7);

    borrows_mutably();
    println!("After calling closure: {list:?}");
}

Listing 13-5: Defining and calling a closure that captures a mutable reference

This code compiles, runs, and prints:

$ cargo run
   Compiling closure-example v0.1.0 (file:///projects/closure-example)
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.43s
     Running `target/debug/closure-example`
Before defining closure: [1, 2, 3]
After calling closure: [1, 2, 3, 7]

Note that there's no longer a println! between the definition and the call of the borrows_mutably closure: when borrows_mutably is defined, it captures a mutable reference to list. We don't use the closure again after the closure is called, so the mutable borrow ends. Between the closure definition and the closure call, an immutable borrow to print isn't allowed because no other borrows are allowed when there's a mutable borrow. Try adding a println! there to see what error message you get!

If you want to force the closure to take ownership of the values it uses in the environment even though the body of the closure doesn't strictly need ownership, you can use the move keyword before the parameter list.

This technique is mostly useful when passing a closure to a new thread to move the data so that it's owned by the new thread. We'll discuss threads and why you would want to use them in detail in Chapter 16 when we talk about concurrency, but for now, let's briefly explore spawning a new thread using a closure that needs the move keyword. Listing 13-6 shows Listing 13-4 modified to print the vector in a new thread rather than in the main thread:

Filename: src/main.rs

use std::thread;

fn main() {
    let list = vec![1, 2, 3];
    println!("Before defining closure: {list:?}");

    thread::spawn(move || println!("From thread: {list:?}"))
        .join()
        .unwrap();
}

Listing 13-6: Using move to force the closure for the thread to take ownership of list

We spawn a new thread, giving the thread a closure to run as an argument. The closure body prints out the list. In Listing 13-4, the closure only captured list using an immutable reference because that's the least amount of access to list needed to print it. In this example, even though the closure body still only needs an immutable reference, we need to specify that list should be moved into the closure by putting the move keyword at the beginning of the closure definition. The new thread might finish before the rest of the main thread finishes, or the main thread might finish first. If the main thread maintained ownership of list but ended before the new thread did and dropped list, the immutable reference in the thread would be invalid. Therefore, the compiler requires that list be moved into the closure given to the new thread so the reference will be valid. Try removing the move keyword or using list in the main thread after the closure is defined to see what compiler errors you get!

Moving Captured Values Out of Closures and the `Fn` Traits

Once a closure has captured a reference or captured ownership of a value from the environment where the closure is defined (thus affecting what, if anything, is moved into the closure), the code in the body of the closure defines what happens to the references or values when the closure is evaluated later (thus affecting what, if anything, is moved out of the closure). A closure body can do any of the following: move a captured value out of the closure, mutate the captured value, neither move nor mutate the value, or capture nothing from the environment to begin with.

The way a closure captures and handles values from the environment affects which traits the closure implements, and traits are how functions and structs can specify what kinds of closures they can use. Closures will automatically implement one, two, or all three of these Fn traits, in an additive fashion, depending on how the closure's body handles the values:

FnOnce applies to closures that can be called once. All closures implement at least this trait, because all closures can be called. A closure that moves captured values out of its body will only implement FnOnce and none of the other Fn traits, because it can only be called once.
FnMut applies to closures that don't move captured values out of their body, but that might mutate the captured values. These closures can be called more than once.
Fn applies to closures that don't move captured values out of their body and that don't mutate captured values, as well as closures that capture nothing from their environment. These closures can be called more than once without mutating their environment, which is important in cases such as calling a closure multiple times concurrently.

Let's look at the definition of the unwrap_or_else method on Option<T> that we used in Listing 13-1:

impl<T> Option<T> {
    pub fn unwrap_or_else<F>(self, f: F) -> T
    where
        F: FnOnce() -> T
    {
        match self {
            Some(x) => x,
            None => f(),
        }
    }
}

Recall that T is the generic type representing the type of the value in the Some variant of an Option. That type T is also the return type of the unwrap_or_else function: code that calls unwrap_or_else on an Option<String>, for example, will get a String.

Next, notice that the unwrap_or_else function has the additional generic type parameter F. The F type is the type of the parameter named f, which is the closure we provide when calling unwrap_or_else.

The trait bound specified on the generic type F is FnOnce() -> T, which means F must be able to be called once, take no arguments, and return a T. Using FnOnce in the trait bound expresses the constraint that unwrap_or_else is only going to call f at most one time. In the body of unwrap_or_else, we can see that if the Option is Some, f won't be called. If the Option is None, f will be called once. Because all closures implement FnOnce, unwrap_or_else accepts all three kinds of closures and is as flexible as it can be.

Note: Functions can implement all three of the Fn traits too. If what we want to do doesn't require capturing a value from the environment, we can use the name of a function rather than a closure where we need something that implements one of the Fn traits. For example, on an Option<Vec<T>> value, we could call unwrap_or_else(Vec::new) to get a new, empty vector if the value is None.

Now let's look at the standard library method sort_by_key defined on slices, to see how that differs from unwrap_or_else and why sort_by_key uses FnMut instead of FnOnce for the trait bound. The closure gets one argument in the form of a reference to the current item in the slice being considered, and returns a value of type K that can be ordered. This function is useful when you want to sort a slice by a particular attribute of each item. In Listing 13-7, we have a list of Rectangle instances and we use sort_by_key to order them by their width attribute from low to high:

Filename: src/main.rs

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Rectangle {
    width: u32,
    height: u32,
}

fn main() {
    let mut list = [
        Rectangle { width: 10, height: 1 },
        Rectangle { width: 3, height: 5 },
        Rectangle { width: 7, height: 12 },
    ];

    list.sort_by_key(|r| r.width);
    println!("{list:#?}");
}

Listing 13-7: Using sort_by_key to order rectangles by width

This code prints:

$ cargo run
   Compiling rectangles v0.1.0 (file:///projects/rectangles)
    Finished `dev` profile [unoptimized + debuginfo] target(s) in 0.41s
     Running `target/debug/rectangles`
[
    Rectangle {
        width: 3,
        height: 5,
    },
    Rectangle {
        width: 7,
        height: 12,
    },
    Rectangle {
        width: 10,
        height: 1,
    },
]

The reason sort_by_key is defined to take an FnMut closure is that it calls the closure multiple times: once for each item in the slice. The closure |r| r.width doesn't capture, mutate, or move out anything from its environment, so it meets the trait bound requirements.

In contrast, Listing 13-8 shows an example of a closure that implements just the FnOnce trait, because it moves a value out of the environment. The compiler won't let us use this closure with sort_by_key:

Filename: src/main.rs

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Rectangle {
    width: u32,
    height: u32,
}

fn main() {
    let mut list = [
        Rectangle { width: 10, height: 1 },
        Rectangle { width: 3, height: 5 },
        Rectangle { width: 7, height: 12 },
    ];

    let mut sort_operations = vec![];
    let value = String::from("closure called");

    list.sort_by_key(|r| {
        sort_operations.push(value);
        r.width
    });
    println!("{list:#?}");
}

Listing 13-8: Attempting to use an FnOnce closure with sort_by_key

This is a contrived, convoluted way (that doesn't work) to try and count the number of times sort_by_key calls the closure when sorting list. This code attempts to do this counting by pushing value—a String from the closure's environment—into the sort_operations vector. The closure captures value then moves value out of the closure by transferring ownership of value to the sort_operations vector. This closure can be called once; trying to call it a second time wouldn't work because value would no longer be in the environment to be pushed into sort_operations again! Therefore, this closure only implements FnOnce. When we try to compile this code, we get this error that value can't be moved out of the closure because the closure must implement FnMut:

$ cargo run
   Compiling rectangles v0.1.0 (file:///projects/rectangles)
error[E0507]: cannot move out of `value`, a captured variable in an `FnMut` closure
  --> src/main.rs:18:30
   |
15 |     let value = String::from("closure called");
   |         ----- captured outer variable
16 |
17 |     list.sort_by_key(|r| {
   |                      --- captured by this `FnMut` closure
18 |         sort_operations.push(value);
   |                              ^^^^^ move occurs because `value` has type `String`, which does not implement the `Copy` trait

For more information about this error, try `rustc --explain E0507`.
error: could not compile `rectangles` (bin "rectangles") due to 1 previous error

The error points to the line in the closure body that moves value out of the environment. To fix this, we need to change the closure body so that it doesn't move values out of the environment. To count the number of times the closure is called, keeping a counter in the environment and incrementing its value in the closure body is a more straightforward way to calculate that. The closure in Listing 13-9 works with sort_by_key because it is only capturing a mutable reference to the num_sort_operations counter and can therefore be called more than once:

Filename: src/main.rs

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Rectangle {
    width: u32,
    height: u32,
}

fn main() {
    let mut list = [
        Rectangle { width: 10, height: 1 },
        Rectangle { width: 3, height: 5 },
        Rectangle { width: 7, height: 12 },
    ];

    let mut num_sort_operations = 0;
    list.sort_by_key(|r| {
        num_sort_operations += 1;
        r.width
    });
    println!("{list:#?}, sorted in {num_sort_operations} operations");
}

Listing 13-9: Using an FnMut closure with sort_by_key is allowed

The Fn traits are important when defining or using functions or types that make use of closures. In the next section, we'll discuss iterators. Many iterator methods take closure arguments, so keep these closure details in mind as we continue!

The Rust Programming Language