How to c type in rust

what is c++

uint8_t *
uint64_t

in rust

uint8_t ,uint16_t , uint32_t and uint64_t . are equal respectively to: unsigned char , unsigned short ,unsigned int and unsigned long long .

Qn is not so clear,can you explain in more detail.

i want to translate rust point to ffi data with c.
such as the funtion in c

void call_c (int8_t *){};

at rust

struct TransData{
    ptr: &[u8]
}

extern "c"{
fn call_c (mut *c_char)
}

i am not sure that the raw type in rust

Question: When calling call_c, how will the C part know the size of the array?
You can get the raw pointer for the slice with as_ptr:

fn my_func(data: &TransData) {
    unsafe {
        let ptr = data.ptr.as_ptr(); // note: i8_t is signed, while u8 isn't, consider casting, changing the signature type or structure type.
        call_c(ptr);
    }
}

The C type uint8_t * is equivalent to the Rust type *mut u8.

uint64_t is equivalent to Rust's u64.

If you want to have void call_c (int8_t *){};, the rust binding would be:

extern "C" {
    fn call_c(*mut i8);
}

If you have a void call_c (char *){};, then you would write:

use std::os::raw::c_char;

extern "C" {
    fn call_c(*mut c_char);
}

But if your function takes int8_t, then you want to give it an i8 in Rust.

The biggest difference between C and Rust types is that in Rust, types are always nested outside->in and left->right. Things are also renamed, but that's a smaller change.

If you need a pointer to some type T, the type is *mut T. If you need an immutable pointer, the type is *const T.

1 Like

as you say
how can i initialize mut* u8?

It depends on what you want it to be! Something similar to the last post here would likely work for *mut u8: How to use void ** - #5 by mbrubeck.

If you want it to be a reference to a stack variable, you can simply do

let mut v: u8 = 0u8;
let ptr: *mut u8 = &mut v;

Note that the type is *mut u8 in Rust, not mut* u8.

However, this might not be useful. Usually, the only reason you would use *mut u8 is if you want to interact with a C api. So that C api dictates what you need. If this is your situation, what api or library are you trying to use?


If you aren't trying to use a C library, then I recommend using Rust references rather than raw pointers. In Rust, this is the standard way: you don't use *mut raw pointers unless you're talking to C. This book chapter has a lot of details on references: References and Borrowing - The Rust Programming Language

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