How do I print the type of a variable in Rust?

Question

I have the following:

let mut my_number = 32.90;

How do I print the type of my_number?

Using type and

Answer 1

If you know all the types beforehand, you can use traits to add a type_of method:

trait TypeInfo {
    fn type_of(&self) -> &'static str;
}

impl TypeInfo for i32 {
    fn type_of(&self) -> &'static str {
        "i32"
    }
}

impl TypeInfo for i64 {
    fn type_of(&self) -> &'static str {
        "i64"
    }
}

//...

No intrisics or nothin', so although more limited this is the only solution here that gets you a string and is stable. (see French Boiethios's answer) However, it's very laborious and doesn't account for type parameters, so we could...

trait TypeInfo {
    fn type_name() -> String;
    fn type_of(&self) -> String;
}

macro_rules! impl_type_info {
    ($($name:ident$(<$($T:ident),+>)*),*) => {
        $(impl_type_info_single!($name$(<$($T),*>)*);)*
    };
}

macro_rules! mut_if {
    ($name:ident = $value:expr, $($any:expr)+) => (let mut $name = $value;);
    ($name:ident = $value:expr,) => (let $name = $value;);
}

macro_rules! impl_type_info_single {
    ($name:ident$(<$($T:ident),+>)*) => {
        impl$(<$($T: TypeInfo),*>)* TypeInfo for $name$(<$($T),*>)* {
            fn type_name() -> String {
                mut_if!(res = String::from(stringify!($name)), $($($T)*)*);
                $(
                    res.push('<');
                    $(
                        res.push_str(&$T::type_name());
                        res.push(',');
                    )*
                    res.pop();
                    res.push('>');
                )*
                res
            }
            fn type_of(&self) -> String {
                $name$(::<$($T),*>)*::type_name()
            }
        }
    }
}

impl<'a, T: TypeInfo + ?Sized> TypeInfo for &'a T {
    fn type_name() -> String {
        let mut res = String::from("&");
        res.push_str(&T::type_name());
        res
    }
    fn type_of(&self) -> String {
        <&T>::type_name()
    }
}

impl<'a, T: TypeInfo + ?Sized> TypeInfo for &'a mut T {
    fn type_name() -> String {
        let mut res = String::from("&mut ");
        res.push_str(&T::type_name());
        res
    }
    fn type_of(&self) -> String {
        <&mut T>::type_name()
    }
}

macro_rules! type_of {
    ($x:expr) => { (&$x).type_of() };
}

Let's use it:

impl_type_info!(i32, i64, f32, f64, str, String, Vec, Result)

fn main() {
    println!("{}", type_of!(1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&&1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&mut 1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&&mut 1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&mut &1));
    println!("{}", type_of!(1.0));
    println!("{}", type_of!("abc"));
    println!("{}", type_of!(&"abc"));
    println!("{}", type_of!(String::from("abc")));
    println!("{}", type_of!(vec![1,2,3]));

    println!("{}", >::type_name());
    println!("{}", <&i32>::type_name());
    println!("{}", <&str>::type_name());
}

output:

i32
&i32
&&i32
&mut i32
&&mut i32
&mut &i32
f64
&str
&&str
String
Vec
Result
&i32
&str

---

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