# Primitive Type never

🔬This is a nightly-only experimental API. (`never_type` #35121)
Expand description

The `!` type, also called “never”.

`!` represents the type of computations which never resolve to any value at all. For example, the `exit` function `fn exit(code: i32) -> !` exits the process without ever returning, and so returns `!`.

`break`, `continue` and `return` expressions also have type `!`. For example we are allowed to write:

    #![feature(never_type)]
    let x: ! = {
        return 123
    };

Run

Although the `let` is pointless here, it illustrates the meaning of `!`. Since `x` is never assigned a value (because `return` returns from the entire function), `x` can be given type `!`. We could also replace `return 123` with a `panic!` or a never-ending `loop` and this code would still be valid.

A more realistic usage of `!` is in this code:

    let num: u32 = match get_a_number() {
        Some(num) => num,
        None => break,
    };

Run

Both match arms must produce values of type `u32`, but since `break` never produces a value at all we know it can never produce a value which isn’t a `u32`. This illustrates another behaviour of the `!` type - expressions with type `!` will coerce into any other type.

## `!` and generics

### Infallible errors

The main place you’ll see `!` used explicitly is in generic code. Consider the `FromStr` trait:

    trait FromStr: Sized {
        type Err;
        fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err>;
    }

Run

When implementing this trait for `String` we need to pick a type for `Err`. And since converting a string into a string will never result in an error, the appropriate type is `!`. (Currently the type actually used is an enum with no variants, though this is only because `!` was added to Rust at a later date and it may change in the future.) With an `Err` type of `!`, if we have to call `String::from_str` for some reason the result will be a `Result<String, !>` which we can unpack like this:

    #![feature(exhaustive_patterns)]
    use std::str::FromStr;
    let Ok(s) = String::from_str("hello");

Run

Since the `Err` variant contains a `!`, it can never occur. If the `exhaustive_patterns` feature is present this means we can exhaustively match on `Result<T, !>` by just taking the `Ok` variant. This illustrates another behaviour of `!` - it can be used to “delete” certain enum variants from generic types like `Result`.

### Infinite loops

While `Result<T, !>` is very useful for removing errors, `!` can also be used to remove successes as well. If we think of `Result<T, !>` as “if this function returns, it has not errored,” we get a very intuitive idea of `Result<!, E>` as well: if the function returns, it has errored.

For example, consider the case of a simple web server, which can be simplified to:

ⓘ

    loop {
        let (client, request) = get_request().expect("disconnected");
        let response = request.process();
        response.send(client);
    }

Run

Currently, this isn’t ideal, because we simply panic whenever we fail to get a new connection. Instead, we’d like to keep track of this error, like this:

ⓘ

    loop {
        match get_request() {
            Err(err) => break err,
            Ok((client, request)) => {
                let response = request.process();
                response.send(client);
            },
        }
    }

Run

Now, when the server disconnects, we exit the loop with an error instead of panicking. While it might be intuitive to simply return the error, we might want to wrap it in a `Result<!, E>` instead:

ⓘ

    fn server_loop() -> Result<!, ConnectionError> {
        loop {
            let (client, request) = get_request()?;
            let response = request.process();
            response.send(client);
        }
    }

Run

Now, we can use `?` instead of `match`, and the return type makes a lot more sense: if the loop ever stops, it means that an error occurred. We don’t even have to wrap the loop in an `Ok` because `!` coerces to `Result<!, ConnectionError>` automatically.

## `!` and traits

When writing your own traits, `!` should have an `impl` whenever there is an obvious `impl` which doesn’t `panic!`. The reason is that functions returning an `impl Trait` where `!` does not have an `impl` of `Trait` cannot diverge as their only possible code path. In other words, they can’t return `!` from every code path. As an example, this code doesn’t compile:

ⓘ

    use std::ops::Add;

    fn foo() -> impl Add<u32> {
        unimplemented!()
    }

Run

But this code does:

    use std::ops::Add;

    fn foo() -> impl Add<u32> {
        if true {
            unimplemented!()
        } else {
            0
        }
    }

Run

The reason is that, in the first example, there are many possible types that `!` could coerce to, because many types implement `Add<u32>`. However, in the second example, the `else` branch returns a `0`, which the compiler infers from the return type to be of type `u32`. Since `u32` is a concrete type, `!` can and will be coerced to it. See issue #36375 for more information on this quirk of `!`.

As it turns out, though, most traits can have an `impl` for `!`. Take `Debug` for example:

    #![feature(never_type)]
    impl Debug for ! {
        fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
            *self
        }
    }

Run

Once again we’re using `!`’s ability to coerce into any other type, in this case `fmt::Result`. Since this method takes a `&!` as an argument we know that it can never be called (because there is no value of type `!` for it to be called with). Writing `*self` essentially tells the compiler “We know that this code can never be run, so just treat the entire function body as having type `fmt::Result`”. This pattern can be used a lot when implementing traits for `!`. Generally, any trait which only has methods which take a `self` parameter should have such an impl.

On the other hand, one trait which would not be appropriate to implement is `Default`:

    trait Default {
        fn default() -> Self;
    }

Run

Since `!` has no values, it has no default value either. It’s true that we could write an `impl` for this which simply panics, but the same is true for any type (we could `impl Default` for (eg.) `File` by just making `default()` panic.)

## Trait Implementations§

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### impl Clone for !

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#### fn clone(&self) -> !

Returns a copy of the value. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn clone_from(&mut self, source: &Self)

Performs copy-assignment from `source`. Read more
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### impl Debug for !

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#### fn fmt(&self, _: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result<(), Error>

Formats the value using the given formatter. Read more
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### impl Display for !

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#### fn fmt(&self, _: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result<(), Error>

Formats the value using the given formatter. Read more
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### impl Error for !

1.30.0 · source§

#### fn source(&self) -> Option<&(dyn Error + 'static)>

The lower-level source of this error, if any. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn description(&self) -> &str

👎Deprecated since 1.42.0: use the Display impl or to_string()
Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn cause(&self) -> Option<&dyn Error>

👎Deprecated since 1.33.0: replaced by Error::source, which can support downcasting
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#### fn provide<'a>(&'a self, request: &mut Request<'a>)

🔬This is a nightly-only experimental API. (`error_generic_member_access` #99301)
Provides type based access to context intended for error reports. Read more
1.34.0 · source§

### impl From<!> for Infallible

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#### fn from(x: !) -> Infallible

Converts to this type from the input type.
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### impl From<!> for TryFromIntError

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#### fn from(never: !) -> TryFromIntError

Converts to this type from the input type.
1.29.0 · source§

### impl Hash for !

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#### fn hash<H>(&self, _: &mut H)where H: Hasher,

Feeds this value into the given `Hasher`. Read more
1.3.0 · source§

#### fn hash_slice<H>(data: &[Self], state: &mut H)where H: Hasher, Self: Sized,

Feeds a slice of this type into the given `Hasher`. Read more
1.60.0 · source§

### impl Not for !

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#### type Output = !

The resulting type after applying the `!` operator.
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#### fn not(self) -> !

Performs the unary `!` operation. Read more
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### impl Ord for !

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#### fn cmp(&self, _: &!) -> Ordering

This method returns an `Ordering` between `self` and `other`. Read more
1.21.0 · source§

#### fn max(self, other: Self) -> Selfwhere Self: Sized,

Compares and returns the maximum of two values. Read more
1.21.0 · source§

#### fn min(self, other: Self) -> Selfwhere Self: Sized,

Compares and returns the minimum of two values. Read more
1.50.0 · source§

#### fn clamp(self, min: Self, max: Self) -> Selfwhere Self: Sized + PartialOrd,

Restrict a value to a certain interval. Read more
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### impl PartialEq for !

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#### fn eq(&self, _: &!) -> bool

This method tests for `self` and `other` values to be equal, and is used by `==`.
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn ne(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests for `!=`. The default implementation is almost always sufficient, and should not be overridden without very good reason.
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### impl PartialOrd for !

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#### fn partial_cmp(&self, _: &!) -> Option<Ordering>

This method returns an ordering between `self` and `other` values if one exists. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn lt(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests less than (for `self` and `other`) and is used by the `<` operator. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn le(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests less than or equal to (for `self` and `other`) and is used by the `<=` operator. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn gt(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests greater than (for `self` and `other`) and is used by the `>` operator. Read more
1.0.0 · source§

#### fn ge(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

This method tests greater than or equal to (for `self` and `other`) and is used by the `>=` operator. Read more
1.61.0 · source§

### impl Termination for !

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#### fn report(self) -> ExitCode

Is called to get the representation of the value as status code. This status code is returned to the operating system.
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### impl Copy for !

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### impl Eq for !

## Blanket Implementations§

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### impl<T> From<!> for T

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#### fn from(t: !) -> T

Converts to this type from the input type.