<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en" class="sidebar-visible no-js">
<head>
<!-- Book generated using mdBook -->
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Macros By Example - The Rust Reference</title>
<meta content="text/html; charset=utf-8" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff" />
<base href="">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="book.css">
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:300italic,400italic,600italic,700italic,800italic,400,300,600,700,800" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Code+Pro:500" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.png">
<!-- Font Awesome -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="_FontAwesome/css/font-awesome.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="highlight.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="tomorrow-night.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="ayu-highlight.css">
<!-- Custom theme stylesheets -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="src/theme/reference.css">
</head>
<body class="light">
<!-- Work around some values being stored in localStorage wrapped in quotes -->
<script type="text/javascript">
try {
var theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme');
var sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar');
if (theme.startsWith('"') && theme.endsWith('"')) {
localStorage.setItem('mdbook-theme', theme.slice(1, theme.length - 1));
}
if (sidebar.startsWith('"') && sidebar.endsWith('"')) {
localStorage.setItem('mdbook-sidebar', sidebar.slice(1, sidebar.length - 1));
}
} catch (e) { }
</script>
<!-- Set the theme before any content is loaded, prevents flash -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var theme;
try { theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme'); } catch(e) { }
if (theme === null || theme === undefined) { theme = 'light'; }
document.body.className = theme;
document.querySelector('html').className = theme + ' js';
</script>
<!-- Hide / unhide sidebar before it is displayed -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var html = document.querySelector('html');
var sidebar = 'hidden';
if (document.body.clientWidth >= 1080) {
try { sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar'); } catch(e) { }
sidebar = sidebar || 'visible';
}
html.classList.remove('sidebar-visible');
html.classList.add("sidebar-" + sidebar);
</script>
<nav id="sidebar" class="sidebar" aria-label="Table of contents">
<ol class="chapter"><li class="affix"><a href="introduction.html">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="notation.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> Notation</a></li><li><a href="lexical-structure.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> Lexical structure</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="input-format.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.1.</strong> Input format</a></li><li><a href="keywords.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.2.</strong> Keywords</a></li><li><a href="identifiers.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.3.</strong> Identifiers</a></li><li><a href="comments.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.4.</strong> Comments</a></li><li><a href="whitespace.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.5.</strong> Whitespace</a></li><li><a href="tokens.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.6.</strong> Tokens</a></li><li><a href="paths.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.7.</strong> Paths</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="macros.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Macros</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="macros-by-example.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.1.</strong> Macros By Example</a></li><li><a href="procedural-macros.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.2.</strong> Procedural Macros</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="crates-and-source-files.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Crates and source files</a></li><li><a href="items-and-attributes.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Items and attributes</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="items.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.</strong> Items</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="items/modules.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.1.</strong> Modules</a></li><li><a href="items/extern-crates.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.2.</strong> Extern crates</a></li><li><a href="items/use-declarations.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.3.</strong> Use declarations</a></li><li><a href="items/functions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.4.</strong> Functions</a></li><li><a href="items/type-aliases.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.5.</strong> Type aliases</a></li><li><a href="items/structs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.6.</strong> Structs</a></li><li><a href="items/enumerations.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.7.</strong> Enumerations</a></li><li><a href="items/unions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.8.</strong> Unions</a></li><li><a href="items/constant-items.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.9.</strong> Constant items</a></li><li><a href="items/static-items.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.10.</strong> Static items</a></li><li><a href="items/traits.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.11.</strong> Traits</a></li><li><a href="items/implementations.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.12.</strong> Implementations</a></li><li><a href="items/external-blocks.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.13.</strong> External blocks</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="items/generics.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.2.</strong> Type and lifetime parameters</a></li><li><a href="items/associated-items.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.3.</strong> Associated Items</a></li><li><a href="visibility-and-privacy.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.4.</strong> Visibility and Privacy</a></li><li><a href="attributes.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.5.</strong> Attributes</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="statements-and-expressions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Statements and expressions</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="statements.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.1.</strong> Statements</a></li><li><a href="expressions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.</strong> Expressions</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="expressions/literal-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.1.</strong> Literal expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/path-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.2.</strong> Path expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/block-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.3.</strong> Block expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/operator-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.4.</strong> Operator expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/grouped-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.5.</strong> Grouped expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/array-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.6.</strong> Array and index expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/tuple-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.7.</strong> Tuple and index expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/struct-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.8.</strong> Struct expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/enum-variant-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.9.</strong> Enum variant expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/call-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.10.</strong> Call expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/method-call-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.11.</strong> Method call expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/field-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.12.</strong> Field access expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/closure-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.13.</strong> Closure expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/loop-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.14.</strong> Loop expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/range-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.15.</strong> Range expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/if-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.16.</strong> If and if let expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/match-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.17.</strong> Match expressions</a></li><li><a href="expressions/return-expr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.18.</strong> Return expressions</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li><a href="type-system.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Type system</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="types.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.1.</strong> Types</a></li><li><a href="dynamically-sized-types.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.2.</strong> Dynamically Sized Types</a></li><li><a href="type-layout.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.3.</strong> Type layout</a></li><li><a href="interior-mutability.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.4.</strong> Interior mutability</a></li><li><a href="subtyping.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.5.</strong> Subtyping and Variance</a></li><li><a href="trait-bounds.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.6.</strong> Trait and lifetime bounds</a></li><li><a href="type-coercions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.7.</strong> Type coercions</a></li><li><a href="destructors.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.8.</strong> Destructors</a></li><li><a href="lifetime-elision.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.9.</strong> Lifetime elision</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="special-types-and-traits.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.</strong> Special types and traits</a></li><li><a href="memory-model.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.</strong> Memory model</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="memory-allocation-and-lifetime.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.1.</strong> Memory allocation and lifetime</a></li><li><a href="memory-ownership.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.2.</strong> Memory ownership</a></li><li><a href="variables.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.3.</strong> Variables</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="linkage.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.</strong> Linkage</a></li><li><a href="unsafety.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.</strong> Unsafety</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li><a href="unsafe-functions.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.1.</strong> Unsafe functions</a></li><li><a href="unsafe-blocks.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.2.</strong> Unsafe blocks</a></li><li><a href="behavior-considered-undefined.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.3.</strong> Behavior considered undefined</a></li><li><a href="behavior-not-considered-unsafe.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.4.</strong> Behavior not considered unsafe</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="influences.html">Appendix: Influences</a></li><li class="affix"><a href="undocumented.html">Appendix: As-yet-undocumented Features</a></li><li class="affix"><a href="glossary.html">Appendix: Glossary</a></li></ol>
</nav>
<div id="page-wrapper" class="page-wrapper">
<div class="page">
<header><p class="warning">
For now, this reference is a best-effort document. We strive for validity
and completeness, but are not yet there. In the future, the docs and lang
teams will work together to figure out how best to do this. Until then, this
is a best-effort attempt. If you find something wrong or missing, file an
<a href="https://github.com/rust-lang-nursery/reference/issues">issue</a> or
send in a pull request.
</p></header>
<div id="menu-bar" class="menu-bar">
<div id="menu-bar-sticky-container">
<div class="left-buttons">
<button id="sidebar-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-label="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-controls="sidebar">
<i class="fa fa-bars"></i>
</button>
<button id="theme-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Change theme" aria-label="Change theme" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="theme-list">
<i class="fa fa-paint-brush"></i>
</button>
<ul id="theme-list" class="theme-popup" aria-label="Themes" role="menu">
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="light">Light <span class="default">(default)</span></button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="rust">Rust</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="coal">Coal</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="navy">Navy</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="ayu">Ayu</button></li>
</ul>
<button id="search-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Search. (Shortkey: s)" aria-label="Toggle Searchbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-keyshortcuts="S" aria-controls="searchbar">
<i class="fa fa-search"></i>
</button>
</div>
<h1 class="menu-title">The Rust Reference</h1>
<div class="right-buttons">
<a href="print.html" title="Print this book" aria-label="Print this book">
<i id="print-button" class="fa fa-print"></i>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="search-wrapper" class="hidden">
<form id="searchbar-outer" class="searchbar-outer">
<input type="search" name="search" id="searchbar" name="searchbar" placeholder="Search this book ..." aria-controls="searchresults-outer" aria-describedby="searchresults-header">
</form>
<div id="searchresults-outer" class="searchresults-outer hidden">
<div id="searchresults-header" class="searchresults-header"></div>
<ul id="searchresults">
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Apply ARIA attributes after the sidebar and the sidebar toggle button are added to the DOM -->
<script type="text/javascript">
document.getElementById('sidebar-toggle').setAttribute('aria-expanded', sidebar === 'visible');
document.getElementById('sidebar').setAttribute('aria-hidden', sidebar !== 'visible');
Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('#sidebar a')).forEach(function(link) {
link.setAttribute('tabIndex', sidebar === 'visible' ? 0 : -1);
});
</script>
<div id="content" class="content">
<main>
<a class="header" href="macros-by-example.html#macros-by-example" id="macros-by-example"><h1>Macros By Example</h1></a>
<p><code>macro_rules</code> allows users to define syntax extension in a declarative way. We
call such extensions "macros by example" or simply "macros".</p>
<p>Currently, macros can expand to expressions, statements, items, or patterns.</p>
<p>(A <code>sep_token</code> is any token other than <code>*</code> and <code>+</code>. A <code>non_special_token</code> is
any token other than a delimiter or <code>$</code>.)</p>
<p>The macro expander looks up macro invocations by name, and tries each macro
rule in turn. It transcribes the first successful match. Matching and
transcription are closely related to each other, and we will describe them
together.</p>
<p>The macro expander matches and transcribes every token that does not begin with
a <code>$</code> literally, including delimiters. For parsing reasons, delimiters must be
balanced, but they are otherwise not special.</p>
<p>In the matcher, <code>$</code> <em>name</em> <code>:</code> <em>designator</em> matches the nonterminal in the Rust
syntax named by <em>designator</em>. Valid designators are:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>item</code>: an <a href="items.html">item</a></li>
<li><code>block</code>: a <a href="expressions/block-expr.html">block</a></li>
<li><code>stmt</code>: a <a href="statements.html">statement</a></li>
<li><code>pat</code>: a <a href="expressions/match-expr.html">pattern</a></li>
<li><code>expr</code>: an <a href="expressions.html">expression</a></li>
<li><code>ty</code>: a <a href="types.html">type</a></li>
<li><code>ident</code>: an <a href="identifiers.html">identifier</a> or <a href="keywords.html">keyword</a></li>
<li><code>path</code>: a <a href="paths.html">path</a></li>
<li><code>tt</code>: a token tree (a single <a href="tokens.html">token</a> by matching <code>()</code>, <code>[]</code>, or <code>{}</code>)</li>
<li><code>meta</code>: the contents of an <a href="attributes.html">attribute</a></li>
<li><code>lifetime</code>: a lifetime. Examples: <code>'static</code>, <code>'a</code>.</li>
</ul>
<p>In the transcriber, the
designator is already known, and so only the name of a matched nonterminal comes
after the dollar sign.</p>
<p>In both the matcher and transcriber, the Kleene star-like operator indicates
repetition. The Kleene star operator consists of <code>$</code> and parentheses, optionally
followed by a separator token, followed by <code>*</code> or <code>+</code>. <code>*</code> means zero or more
repetitions, <code>+</code> means at least one repetition. The parentheses are not matched or
transcribed. On the matcher side, a name is bound to <em>all</em> of the names it
matches, in a structure that mimics the structure of the repetition encountered
on a successful match. The job of the transcriber is to sort that structure
out.</p>
<p>The rules for transcription of these repetitions are called "Macro By Example".
Essentially, one "layer" of repetition is discharged at a time, and all of them
must be discharged by the time a name is transcribed. Therefore, <code>( $( $i:ident ),* ) => ( $i )</code> is an invalid macro, but <code>( $( $i:ident ),* ) => ( $( $i:ident ),* )</code> is acceptable (if trivial).</p>
<p>When Macro By Example encounters a repetition, it examines all of the <code>$</code>
<em>name</em> s that occur in its body. At the "current layer", they all must repeat
the same number of times, so <code>( $( $i:ident ),* ; $( $j:ident ),* ) => ( $( ($i,$j) ),* )</code> is valid if given the argument <code>(a,b,c ; d,e,f)</code>, but not
<code>(a,b,c ; d,e)</code>. The repetition walks through the choices at that layer in
lockstep, so the former input transcribes to <code>(a,d), (b,e), (c,f)</code>.</p>
<p>Nested repetitions are allowed.</p>
<a class="header" href="macros-by-example.html#parsing-limitations" id="parsing-limitations"><h3>Parsing limitations</h3></a>
<p>The parser used by the macro system is reasonably powerful, but the parsing of
Rust syntax is restricted in two ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>Macro definitions are required to include suitable separators after parsing
expressions and other bits of the Rust grammar. This implies that
a macro definition like <code>$i:expr [ , ]</code> is not legal, because <code>[</code> could be part
of an expression. A macro definition like <code>$i:expr,</code> or <code>$i:expr;</code> would be legal,
however, because <code>,</code> and <code>;</code> are legal separators. See <a href="https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/0550-macro-future-proofing.md">RFC 550</a> for more information.</li>
<li>The parser must have eliminated all ambiguity by the time it reaches a <code>$</code>
<em>name</em> <code>:</code> <em>designator</em>. This requirement most often affects name-designator
pairs when they occur at the beginning of, or immediately after, a <code>$(...)*</code>;
requiring a distinctive token in front can solve the problem.</li>
</ol>
</main>
<nav class="nav-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation">
<!-- Mobile navigation buttons -->
<a rel="prev" href="macros.html" class="mobile-nav-chapters previous" title="Previous chapter" aria-label="Previous chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Left">
<i class="fa fa-angle-left"></i>
</a>
<a rel="next" href="procedural-macros.html" class="mobile-nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right">
<i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i>
</a>
<div style="clear: both"></div>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<nav class="nav-wide-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation">
<a href="macros.html" class="nav-chapters previous" title="Previous chapter" aria-label="Previous chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Left">
<i class="fa fa-angle-left"></i>
</a>
<a href="procedural-macros.html" class="nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right">
<i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i>
</a>
</nav>
</div>
<script src="searchindex.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="elasticlunr.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="mark.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="searcher.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="clipboard.min.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="highlight.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<script src="book.js" type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8"></script>
<!-- Custom JS scripts -->
</body>
</html>
