Languages

Error Handling

- Rust has a robust error handling system

Driptanil DattaSoftware Developer

Mar 202510 min read

Error Handling

Rust has a robust error handling system

Panic

Rust has a panic! macro to stop the program when an error occurs

fn main() {
    panic!("crash and burn");
}

Execution Output

Runtime Error:
thread 'main' panicked at 'crash and burn', src/main.rs:2:5

panic! macro can be used to generate a backtrace

Result Enum

Rust uses the Result enum to handle errors

use std::fs::File;
 
fn main() {
    let f = File::open("hello.txt");
 
    let f = match f {
        Ok(file) => file,
        Err(error) => {
            panic!("Problem opening the file: {:?}", error)
        },
    };
}

match keyword is used to handle the Result enum
Result has two variants: Ok and Err
Ok variant indicates success and contains a value
Err variant indicates failure and contains an error message

use std::{fs::File, io::ErrorKind};
 
fn main() {
    let f = File::open("hello.txt");
 
    let f = match f {
        Ok(file) => file,
        Err(error) => match error.kind() {
            ErrorKind::NotFound => match File::create("hello.txt") {
                Ok(fc) => fc,
                Err(e) => panic!("Problem creating the file: {:?}", e),
            },
            other_error => {
                panic!("Problem opening the file: {:?}", other_error)
            }
        },
    };
}

Nested match expressions can be used to handle different error types
ErrorKind enum is used to handle different error types
when ErrorKind is NotFound, create is used to create the file named hello.txt

Closure

Rust has a unwrap method to handle errors

use std::fs::File;
fn main() {
      let f = File::open("hello.txt").unwrap_or_else(|error| {
        if error.kind() == ErrorKind::NotFound {
            File::create("hello.txt").unwrap_or_else(|error| {
                panic!("Problem creating the file: {:?}", error);
            })
        } else {
            panic!("Problem opening the file: {:?}", error);
        }
    });
}

unwrap_or_else method is used to handle errors

Expect

Rust has an expect method to handle errors

use std::fs::File;
fn main() {
    let f = File::open("hello.txt").expect("Failed to open the file");
}

? Operator

Rust has a ? operator to handle errors

 
use std::fs::File;
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
 
fn read_username_from_file() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
    let f = File::open("hello.txt");
 
    let mut f = match f {
        Ok(file) => file,
        Err(e) => return Err(e),
    };
 
    let mut s = String::new();
 
    match f.read_to_string(&mut s) {
        Ok(_) => Ok(s),
        Err(e) => Err(e),
    }
}
 
fn main() {}

? operator is used to handle errors

use std::fs::File;
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
 
fn read_username_from_file() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
    let mut f = File::open("hello.txt")?;
 
    let mut s = String::new();
 
    f.read_to_string(&mut s)?;
 
    Ok(s)
}
 
fn main() {}

? operator can be used to handle errors in a more concise way
f.read_to_string(&mut s)? will return Ok(s) if successful, otherwise it will return Err(e)

use std::fs::File;
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
 
fn read_username_from_file() -> Result<String, io::Error> {
    let mut s = String::new();
    File::open("hello.txt")?.read_to_string(&mut s)?;
 
    Ok(s)
}
 
fn main() {}

? operator can be chained to handle errors in a more concise way
File::open("hello.txt")?.read_to_string(&mut s)? will return Ok(s) if successful, otherwise it will return Err(e)

use std::fs::File;
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
 
fn main() {
    let mut s = String::new();
    File::open("hello.txt")?.read_to_string(&mut s)?;
 
    Ok(s)
}

Execution Output

the ? operator can only be used in a function that returns Result or
Option (or another type that implements FromResidual)

use std::fs::File;
use std::io;
use std::io::Read;
 
fn main() -> Result<(), io::Error> {
    let mut s = String::new();
    File::open("hello.txt")?.read_to_string(&mut s)?;
 
    Ok(())
}

? operator can only be used in a function that returns Result or Option
main function returns Result with Ok variant

Panic vs Result vs Expect

In general the default should be using the Result enum and error propagation, prevents the program from crashing, and error propagation allows the caller to decide how to handle the error
panic! macro should be used when the program is in an unrecoverable state, used in example code, or when the program is in a state where it's not possible to recover
expect! method is used in prototype code, quick tests (when the program is in a state where it's not possible to recover)
unwrap! method is used in prototype code, when something is expected to be Ok but fails

Creating Custom Types for Validation

Rust allows creating custom types for validation

loop {
    let guess: i32 = match guess.trim().parse() {
        Ok(num) => num,
        Err(_) => continue,
    };
 
    if guess < 1 || guess > 100 {
        println!("The secret number will be between 1 and 100.");
        continue;
    }
 
    match guess.cmp(&secret_number) {
        // --snip--
    }
}

this works here, but doesn't scale well

struct Guess {
    value: i32,
}
 
impl Guess {
    fn new(value: i32) -> Guess {
        if value < 1 || value > 100 {
            panic!("Guess value must be between 1 and 100, got {}.", value);
        }
 
        Guess { value }
    }
 
    fn value(&self) -> i32 {
        self.value
    }
}

this is a better way to handle validation

7. Collections 9. Generics