Rust 1.23.0
This document is the primary reference for the Rust programming language grammar. It provides only one kind of material:
This document does not serve as an introduction to the language. Background familiarity with the language is assumed. A separate guide is available to help acquire such background.
This document also does not serve as a reference to the standard library included in the language distribution. Those libraries are documented separately by extracting documentation attributes from their source code. Many of the features that one might expect to be language features are library features in Rust, so what you're looking for may be there, not here.
Rust's grammar is defined over Unicode codepoints, each conventionally denoted
U+XXXX, for 4 or more hexadecimal digits X. Most of Rust's grammar is
confined to the ASCII range of Unicode, and is described in this document by a
dialect of Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF), specifically a dialect of EBNF
supported by common automated LL(k) parsing tools such as llgen, rather than
the dialect given in ISO 14977. The dialect can be defined self-referentially
as follows:
grammar : rule + ;
rule : nonterminal ':' productionrule ';' ;
productionrule : production [ '|' production ] * ;
production : term * ;
term : element repeats ;
element : LITERAL | IDENTIFIER | '[' productionrule ']' ;
repeats : [ '*' | '+' ] NUMBER ? | NUMBER ? | '?' ;
Where:
LITERAL is a single printable ASCII character, or an escaped hexadecimal
ASCII code of the form \xQQ, in single quotes, denoting the corresponding
Unicode codepoint U+00QQ.IDENTIFIER is a nonempty string of ASCII letters and underscores.repeat forms apply to the adjacent element, and are as follows:
? means zero or one repetition* means zero or more repetitions+ means one or more repetitionsThis EBNF dialect should hopefully be familiar to many readers.
A few productions in Rust's grammar permit Unicode codepoints outside the ASCII range. We define these productions in terms of character properties specified in the Unicode standard, rather than in terms of ASCII-range codepoints. The section Special Unicode Productions lists these productions.
Some rules in the grammar — notably unary operators, binary operators, and keywords — are given in a simplified form: as a listing of a table of unquoted, printable whitespace-separated strings. These cases form a subset of the rules regarding the token rule, and are assumed to be the result of a lexical-analysis phase feeding the parser, driven by a DFA, operating over the disjunction of all such string table entries.
When such a string enclosed in double-quotes (") occurs inside the grammar,
it is an implicit reference to a single member of such a string table
production. See tokens for more information.
Rust input is interpreted as a sequence of Unicode codepoints encoded in UTF-8. Most Rust grammar rules are defined in terms of printable ASCII-range codepoints, but a small number are defined in terms of Unicode properties or explicit codepoint lists. 1
The following productions in the Rust grammar are defined in terms of Unicode
properties: ident, non_null, non_eol, non_single_quote and
non_double_quote.
The ident production is any nonempty Unicode2 string of
the following form:
XID_startXID_continuethat does not occur in the set of keywords.
Note:
XID_startandXID_continueas character properties cover the character ranges used to form the more familiar C and Java language-family identifiers.
Some productions are defined by exclusion of particular Unicode characters:
non_null is any single Unicode character aside from U+0000 (null)non_eol is non_null restricted to exclude U+000A ('\n')non_single_quote is non_null restricted to exclude U+0027 (')non_double_quote is non_null restricted to exclude U+0022 (")comment : block_comment | line_comment ;
block_comment : "/*" block_comment_body * "*/" ;
block_comment_body : [block_comment | character] * ;
line_comment : "//" non_eol * ;
FIXME: add doc grammar?
whitespace_char : '\x20' | '\x09' | '\x0a' | '\x0d' ;
whitespace : [ whitespace_char | comment ] + ;
simple_token : keyword | unop | binop ;
token : simple_token | ident | literal | symbol | whitespace token ;
| _ | abstract | alignof | as | become |
| box | break | const | continue | crate |
| do | else | enum | extern | false |
| final | fn | for | if | impl |
| in | let | loop | macro | match |
| mod | move | mut | offsetof | override |
| priv | proc | pub | pure | ref |
| return | Self | self | sizeof | static |
| struct | super | trait | true | type |
| typeof | unsafe | unsized | use | virtual |
| where | while | yield |
Each of these keywords has special meaning in its grammar, and all of them are
excluded from the ident rule.
Not all of these keywords are used by the language. Some of them were used before Rust 1.0, and were left reserved once their implementations were removed. Some of them were reserved before 1.0 to make space for possible future features.
lit_suffix : ident;
literal : [ string_lit | char_lit | byte_string_lit | byte_lit | num_lit | bool_lit ] lit_suffix ?;
The optional lit_suffix production is only used for certain numeric literals,
but is reserved for future extension. That is, the above gives the lexical
grammar, but a Rust parser will reject everything but the 12 special cases
mentioned in Number literals in the
reference.
char_lit : '\x27' char_body '\x27' ;
string_lit : '"' string_body * '"' | 'r' raw_string ;
char_body : non_single_quote
| '\x5c' [ '\x27' | common_escape | unicode_escape ] ;
string_body : non_double_quote
| '\x5c' [ '\x22' | common_escape | unicode_escape ] ;
raw_string : '"' raw_string_body '"' | '#' raw_string '#' ;
common_escape : '\x5c'
| 'n' | 'r' | 't' | '0'
| 'x' hex_digit 2
unicode_escape : 'u' '{' hex_digit+ 6 '}';
hex_digit : 'a' | 'b' | 'c' | 'd' | 'e' | 'f'
| 'A' | 'B' | 'C' | 'D' | 'E' | 'F'
| dec_digit ;
oct_digit : '0' | '1' | '2' | '3' | '4' | '5' | '6' | '7' ;
dec_digit : '0' | nonzero_dec ;
nonzero_dec: '1' | '2' | '3' | '4'
| '5' | '6' | '7' | '8' | '9' ;
byte_lit : "b\x27" byte_body '\x27' ;
byte_string_lit : "b\x22" string_body * '\x22' | "br" raw_byte_string ;
byte_body : ascii_non_single_quote
| '\x5c' [ '\x27' | common_escape ] ;
byte_string_body : ascii_non_double_quote
| '\x5c' [ '\x22' | common_escape ] ;
raw_byte_string : '"' raw_byte_string_body '"' | '#' raw_byte_string '#' ;
num_lit : nonzero_dec [ dec_digit | '_' ] * float_suffix ?
| '0' [ [ dec_digit | '_' ] * float_suffix ?
| 'b' [ '1' | '0' | '_' ] +
| 'o' [ oct_digit | '_' ] +
| 'x' [ hex_digit | '_' ] + ] ;
float_suffix : [ exponent | '.' dec_lit exponent ? ] ? ;
exponent : ['E' | 'e'] ['-' | '+' ] ? dec_lit ;
dec_lit : [ dec_digit | '_' ] + ;
bool_lit : [ "true" | "false" ] ;
The two values of the boolean type are written true and false.
symbol : "::" | "->"
| '#' | '[' | ']' | '(' | ')' | '{' | '}'
| ',' | ';' ;
Symbols are a general class of printable tokens that play structural roles in a variety of grammar productions. They are cataloged here for completeness as the set of remaining miscellaneous printable tokens that do not otherwise appear as unary operators, binary operators, or keywords.
expr_path : [ "::" ] ident [ "::" expr_path_tail ] + ;
expr_path_tail : '<' type_expr [ ',' type_expr ] + '>'
| expr_path ;
type_path : ident [ type_path_tail ] + ;
type_path_tail : '<' type_expr [ ',' type_expr ] + '>'
| "::" type_path ;
expr_macro_rules : "macro_rules" '!' ident '(' macro_rule * ')' ';'
| "macro_rules" '!' ident '{' macro_rule * '}' ;
macro_rule : '(' matcher * ')' "=>" '(' transcriber * ')' ';' ;
matcher : '(' matcher * ')' | '[' matcher * ']'
| '{' matcher * '}' | '$' ident ':' ident
| '$' '(' matcher * ')' sep_token? [ '*' | '+' ]
| non_special_token ;
transcriber : '(' transcriber * ')' | '[' transcriber * ']'
| '{' transcriber * '}' | '$' ident
| '$' '(' transcriber * ')' sep_token? [ '*' | '+' ]
| non_special_token ;
FIXME: grammar? What production covers #![crate_id = "foo"] ?
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item : vis ? mod_item | fn_item | type_item | struct_item | enum_item
| const_item | static_item | trait_item | impl_item | extern_block_item ;
FIXME: grammar?
mod_item : "mod" ident ( ';' | '{' mod '}' );
mod : [ view_item | item ] * ;
view_item : extern_crate_decl | use_decl ';' ;
extern_crate_decl : "extern" "crate" crate_name
crate_name: ident | ( ident "as" ident )
use_decl : vis ? "use" [ path "as" ident
| path_glob ] ;
path_glob : ident [ "::" [ path_glob
| '*' ] ] ?
| '{' path_item [ ',' path_item ] * '}' ;
path_item : ident | "self" ;
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const_item : "const" ident ':' type '=' expr ';' ;
static_item : "static" ident ':' type '=' expr ';' ;
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extern_block_item : "extern" '{' extern_block '}' ;
extern_block : [ foreign_fn ] * ;
vis : "pub" ;
See Use declarations.
attribute : '#' '!' ? '[' meta_item ']' ;
meta_item : ident [ '=' literal
| '(' meta_seq ')' ] ? ;
meta_seq : meta_item [ ',' meta_seq ] ? ;
stmt : decl_stmt | expr_stmt | ';' ;
decl_stmt : item | let_decl ;
See Items.
let_decl : "let" pat [':' type ] ? [ init ] ? ';' ;
init : [ '=' ] expr ;
expr_stmt : expr ';' ;
expr : literal | path | tuple_expr | unit_expr | struct_expr
| block_expr | method_call_expr | field_expr | array_expr
| idx_expr | range_expr | unop_expr | binop_expr
| paren_expr | call_expr | lambda_expr | while_expr
| loop_expr | break_expr | continue_expr | for_expr
| if_expr | match_expr | if_let_expr | while_let_expr
| return_expr ;
FIXME: grammar?
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See Literals.
See Paths.
tuple_expr : '(' [ expr [ ',' expr ] * | expr ',' ] ? ')' ;
unit_expr : "()" ;
struct_expr_field_init : ident | ident ':' expr ;
struct_expr : expr_path '{' struct_expr_field_init
[ ',' struct_expr_field_init ] *
[ ".." expr ] '}' |
expr_path '(' expr
[ ',' expr ] * ')' |
expr_path ;
block_expr : '{' [ stmt | item ] *
[ expr ] '}' ;
method_call_expr : expr '.' ident paren_expr_list ;
field_expr : expr '.' ident ;
array_expr : '[' "mut" ? array_elems? ']' ;
array_elems : [expr [',' expr]*] | [expr ';' expr] ;
idx_expr : expr '[' expr ']' ;
range_expr : expr ".." expr |
expr ".." |
".." expr |
".." ;
unop_expr : unop expr ;
unop : '-' | '*' | '!' ;
binop_expr : expr binop expr | type_cast_expr
| assignment_expr | compound_assignment_expr ;
binop : arith_op | bitwise_op | lazy_bool_op | comp_op
arith_op : '+' | '-' | '*' | '/' | '%' ;
bitwise_op : '&' | '|' | '^' | "<<" | ">>" ;
lazy_bool_op : "&&" | "||" ;
comp_op : "==" | "!=" | '<' | '>' | "<=" | ">=" ;
type_cast_expr : value "as" type ;
assignment_expr : expr '=' expr ;
compound_assignment_expr : expr [ arith_op | bitwise_op ] '=' expr ;
paren_expr : '(' expr ')' ;
expr_list : [ expr [ ',' expr ]* ] ? ;
paren_expr_list : '(' expr_list ')' ;
call_expr : expr paren_expr_list ;
ident_list : [ ident [ ',' ident ]* ] ? ;
lambda_expr : '|' ident_list '|' expr ;
while_expr : [ lifetime ':' ] ? "while" no_struct_literal_expr '{' block '}' ;
loop_expr : [ lifetime ':' ] ? "loop" '{' block '}';
break_expr : "break" [ lifetime ] ?;
continue_expr : "continue" [ lifetime ] ?;
for_expr : [ lifetime ':' ] ? "for" pat "in" no_struct_literal_expr '{' block '}' ;
if_expr : "if" no_struct_literal_expr '{' block '}'
else_tail ? ;
else_tail : "else" [ if_expr | if_let_expr
| '{' block '}' ] ;
match_expr : "match" no_struct_literal_expr '{' match_arm * '}' ;
match_arm : attribute * match_pat "=>" [ expr "," | '{' block '}' ] ;
match_pat : pat [ '|' pat ] * [ "if" expr ] ? ;
if_let_expr : "if" "let" pat '=' expr '{' block '}'
else_tail ? ;
while_let_expr : [ lifetime ':' ] ? "while" "let" pat '=' expr '{' block '}' ;
return_expr : "return" expr ? ;
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closure_type := [ 'unsafe' ] [ '<' lifetime-list '>' ] '|' arg-list '|'
[ ':' bound-list ] [ '->' type ]
lifetime-list := lifetime | lifetime ',' lifetime-list
arg-list := ident ':' type | ident ':' type ',' arg-list
An empty type
never_type : "!" ;
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bound-list := bound | bound '+' bound-list '+' ?
bound := ty_bound | lt_bound
lt_bound := lifetime
ty_bound := ty_bound_noparen | (ty_bound_noparen)
ty_bound_noparen := [?] [ for<lt_param_defs> ] simple_path
FIXME: grammar?
FIXME: this is probably not relevant to the grammar...
FIXME: is this entire chapter relevant here? Or should it all have been covered by some production already?