Keywords

Rust divides keywords into three categories:

Strict keywords

These keywords can only be used in their correct contexts. They cannot be used as the names of:

The following keywords are in all editions:

  • as
  • break
  • const
  • continue
  • crate
  • else
  • enum
  • extern
  • false
  • fn
  • for
  • if
  • impl
  • in
  • let
  • loop
  • match
  • mod
  • move
  • mut
  • pub
  • ref
  • return
  • self
  • Self
  • static
  • struct
  • super
  • trait
  • true
  • type
  • unsafe
  • use
  • where
  • while

The following keywords were added beginning in the 2018 edition.

  • async
  • await
  • dyn

Reserved keywords

These keywords aren’t used yet, but they are reserved for future use. They have the same restrictions as strict keywords. The reasoning behind this is to make current programs forward compatible with future versions of Rust by forbidding them to use these keywords.

  • abstract
  • become
  • box
  • do
  • final
  • macro
  • override
  • priv
  • typeof
  • unsized
  • virtual
  • yield

The following keywords are reserved beginning in the 2018 edition.

  • try

The following keywords are reserved beginning in the 2024 edition.

  • gen

Weak keywords

These keywords have special meaning only in certain contexts. For example, it is possible to declare a variable or method with the name union.

  • macro_rules is used to create custom macros.
  • union is used to declare a union and is only a keyword when used in a union declaration.

  • 'static is used for the static lifetime and cannot be used as a generic lifetime parameter or loop label

    // error[E0262]: invalid lifetime parameter name: `'static`
fn invalid_lifetime_parameter<'static>(s: &'static str) -> &'static str { s }
  • safe is used for functions and statics, which has meaning in external blocks.
  • raw is used for raw borrow operators, and is only a keyword when matching a raw borrow operator form (such as &raw const expr or &raw mut expr).

2018 Edition differences

In the 2015 edition, dyn is a keyword when used in a type position followed by a path that does not start with :: or <, a lifetime, a question mark, a for keyword or an opening parenthesis.

Beginning in the 2018 edition, dyn has been promoted to a strict keyword.