Rust String Types Explained: How Literals, Slices, and Fat Pointers Work

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Rust has two primary string types — `String` and `&str` — which often confuse developers coming from languages like Python or JavaScript. Unlike C strings, which rely on null terminators, Rust's `&str` is a 'fat pointer' consisting of a memory address and a length field, totalling 16 bytes on 64-bit systems. String literals are embedded directly into a binary's read-only data segment at compile time, giving them a `'static` lifetime and making them accessible for the entire duration of a program. When a function returns a string literal such as "Yummy!", Rust constructs a fat pointer to those bytes in memory rather than copying them onto the stack. This design allows Rust strings to be both fast and memory-efficient without sacrificing safety.

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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ProgrammingDEV Community ·

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