Copy Types and Clone

Updated

October 31, 2026

Copy Types and Clone

The `Copy` Trait

Types that live entirely on the stack and have fixed sizes implement the Copy trait. Assignment of Copy types performs a bitwise copy rather than a move:

fn main() {
    let x: i32 = 42;
    let y = x; // Bitwise copy
    println!("x = {}, y = {}", x, y); // Both valid!
}

The `Clone` Trait

For heap-allocated types where an explicit, potentially expensive deep copy is desired, use .clone():

fn main() {
    let s1 = String::from("records");
    let s2 = s1.clone(); // Deep allocation on heap
    println!("s1 = {}, s2 = {}", s1, s2); // Both valid
}