Where clauses

A bound can also be expressed using a where clause immediately before the opening {, rather than at the type's first mention. Additionally, where clauses can apply bounds to arbitrary types, rather than just to type parameters.

Some cases that a where clause is useful:

• When specifying generic types and bounds separately is clearer:

impl <A: TraitB + TraitC, D: TraitE + TraitF> MyTrait<A, D> for YourType {}

// Expressing bounds with a `where` clause
impl <A, D> MyTrait<A, D> for YourType where
    A: TraitB + TraitC,
    D: TraitE + TraitF {}

• When using a where clause is more expressive than using normal syntax. The impl in this example cannot be directly expressed without a where clause:

use std::fmt::Debug;

trait PrintInOption {
    fn print_in_option(self);
}

// Because we would otherwise have to express this as `T: Debug` or 
// use another method of indirect approach, this requires a `where` clause:
impl<T> PrintInOption for T where
    Option<T>: Debug {
    // We want `Option<T>: Debug` as our bound because that is what's
    // being printed. Doing otherwise would be using the wrong bound.
    fn print_in_option(self) {
        println!("{:?}", Some(self));
    }
}

fn main() {
    let vec = vec![1, 2, 3];

    vec.print_in_option();
}

See also:

RFC, struct, and trait