1.0.0[][src]Function core::mem::forget

pub fn forget<T>(t: T)

Takes ownership and "forgets" about the value without running its destructor.

Any resources the value manages, such as heap memory or a file handle, will linger forever in an unreachable state. However, it does not guarantee that pointers to this memory will remain valid.

Safety

forget is not marked as unsafe, because Rust's safety guarantees do not include a guarantee that destructors will always run. For example, a program can create a reference cycle using Rc, or call process::exit to exit without running destructors. Thus, allowing mem::forget from safe code does not fundamentally change Rust's safety guarantees.

That said, leaking resources such as memory or I/O objects is usually undesirable, so forget is only recommended for specialized use cases like those shown below.

Because forgetting a value is allowed, any unsafe code you write must allow for this possibility. You cannot return a value and expect that the caller will necessarily run the value's destructor.

Examples

Leak an I/O object, never closing the file:

use std::mem;
use std::fs::File;

let file = File::open("foo.txt").unwrap();
mem::forget(file);Run

The practical use cases for forget are rather specialized and mainly come up in unsafe or FFI code.