From and Into

Types implement From and Into to facilitate type conversions:

fn main() {
    let s = String::from("hello");
    let addr = std::net::Ipv4Addr::from([127, 0, 0, 1]);
    let one = i16::from(true);
    let bigger = i32::from(123_i16);
    println!("{s}, {addr}, {one}, {bigger}");
}

Into is automatically implemented when From is implemented:

fn main() {
    let s: String = "hello".into();
    let addr: std::net::Ipv4Addr = [127, 0, 0, 1].into();
    let one: i16 = true.into();
    let bigger: i32 = 123_i16.into();
    println!("{s}, {addr}, {one}, {bigger}");
}
This slide should take about 10 minutes.
  • That’s why it is common to only implement From, as your type will get Into implementation too.
  • When declaring a function argument input type like “anything that can be converted into a String”, the rule is opposite, you should use Into. Your function will accept types that implement From and those that only implement Into.