`const` and `static` - The Rust Programming Language

# const and static

Rust has a way of defining constants with the `const` keyword:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    const N: i32 = 5;
    #}

Unlike `let` bindings, you must annotate the type of a `const`.

Constants live for the entire lifetime of a program. More specifically, constants in Rust have no fixed address in memory. This is because they’re effectively inlined to each place that they’re used. References to the same constant are not necessarily guaranteed to refer to the same memory address for this reason.

# `static`

Rust provides a ‘global variable’ sort of facility in static items. They’re similar to constants, but static items aren’t inlined upon use. This means that there is only one instance for each value, and it’s at a fixed location in memory.

Here’s an example:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    static N: i32 = 5;
    #}

Unlike `let` bindings, you must annotate the type of a `static`.

Statics live for the entire lifetime of a program, and therefore any reference stored in a static has a `'static` lifetime:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    static NAME: &'static str = "Steve";
    #}

## Mutability

You can introduce mutability with the `mut` keyword:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    static mut N: i32 = 5;
    #}

Because this is mutable, one thread could be updating `N` while another is reading it, causing memory unsafety. As such both accessing and mutating a `static mut` is `unsafe`, and so must be done in an `unsafe` block:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    # static mut N: i32 = 5;

    unsafe {
        N += 1;

        println!("N: {}", N);
    }
    #}

Furthermore, any type stored in a `static` must be `Sync`, and must not have a `Drop` implementation.

# Initializing

Both `const` and `static` have requirements for giving them a value. They must be given a value that’s a constant expression. In other words, you cannot use the result of a function call or anything similarly complex or at runtime.

# Which construct should I use?

Almost always, if you can choose between the two, choose `const`. It’s pretty rare that you actually want a memory location associated with your constant, and using a `const` allows for optimizations like constant propagation not only in your crate but downstream crates.