Struct Copy / Clone difference

1

As somebody new to Rust, I am wondering whether there is a subtle difference between clone and copy in the case of a simple struct like

 #[derive(Copy, Clone)]
struct AStruct {
      a: i8,
      b, i8
}

Copy, clone have the same effect, but are they factually identical in other terms, like performance?

2

The main difference is the semantics.

std doc Clone in std::clone - Rust and Copy in std::marker - Rust are great materials for your question.

2 Likes
3

Fab. Got it. Thanks!

4

You can pass Copy type to more functions.
Copy is built into the language; you can implement your own clone(). You need an obscure reason to make it different though.

5

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