Trait std::convert::TryFrom

pub trait TryFrom<T> {
    type Error;
    fn try_from(value: T) -> Result<Self, Self::Error>;
}

Simple and safe type conversions that may fail in a controlled way under some circumstances. It is the reciprocal of TryInto.

This is useful when you are doing a type conversion that may trivially succeed but may also need special handling. For example, there is no way to convert an i64 into an i32 using the From trait, because an i64 may contain a value that an i32 cannot represent and so the conversion would lose data. This might be handled by truncating the i64 to an i32 (essentially giving the i64’s value modulo i32::MAX) or by simply returning i32::MAX, or by some other method. The From trait is intended for perfect conversions, so the TryFrom trait informs the programmer when a type conversion could go bad and lets them decide how to handle it.

Generic Implementations

• TryFrom<T> for U implies TryInto<U> for T
• try_from is reflexive, which means that TryFrom<T> for T is implemented and cannot fail – the associated Error type for calling T::try_from() on a value of type T is Infallible. When the ! type is stabilized Infallible and ! will be equivalent.

TryFrom<T> can be implemented as follows:

use std::convert::TryFrom;

struct GreaterThanZero(i32);

impl TryFrom<i32> for GreaterThanZero {
    type Error = &'static str;

    fn try_from(value: i32) -> Result<Self, Self::Error> {
        if value <= 0 {
            Err("GreaterThanZero only accepts value superior than zero!")
        } else {
            Ok(GreaterThanZero(value))
        }
    }
}

Examples

As described, i32 implements TryFrom<i64>:

use std::convert::TryFrom;

let big_number = 1_000_000_000_000i64;
// Silently truncates `big_number`, requires detecting
// and handling the truncation after the fact.
let smaller_number = big_number as i32;
assert_eq!(smaller_number, -727379968);

// Returns an error because `big_number` is too big to
// fit in an `i32`.
let try_smaller_number = i32::try_from(big_number);
assert!(try_smaller_number.is_err());

// Returns `Ok(3)`.
let try_successful_smaller_number = i32::try_from(3);
assert!(try_successful_smaller_number.is_ok());

Associated Types

Required methods

Implementors