Rust File Processing Function: Read, Process, and Write with Error Handling

Last update on December 21 2024 10:19:40 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Write a Rust function that reads a file, processes its contents, and writes to another file, propagating any errors.

Sample Solution:

Rust Code:

use std::fs; // Import the fs module for file handling
use std::io; // Import the io module for file I/O

// Function to read a file, process its contents, and write to another file
fn process_file(input_file: &str, output_file: &str) -> Result<(), io::Error> {
    // Read the contents of the input file
    let file_content = fs::read_to_string(input_file)?;

    // Process the contents as needed (example: convert to uppercase)
    let processed_content = file_content.to_uppercase();

    // Write the processed content to the output file
    fs::write(output_file, processed_content)?;

    Ok(()) // Return Ok if the operation completes successfully
}

fn main() -> Result<(), io::Error> {
    let input_file = "input.txt"; // Specify the path of the input file
    let contents = "Rust Exercises!"; // Content to write to the file
    fs::write(input_file, contents).expect("Failed to create file"); // Create the file with content

    let output_file = "output.txt"; // Specify the path of the output file

    // Call the function to process the file
    process_file(input_file, output_file)?;

    println!("File processed successfully."); // Print a success message

    Ok(()) // Return Ok if the program completes successfully
}

Output:

File processed successfully.

Explanation:

Here is a brief explanation of the above Rust code:

• use std::fs; and use std::io;: These lines import the "fs" module for file handling and the "io" module for file I/O operations.
• fn process_file(input_file: &str, output_file: &str) -> Result<(), io::Error> {: This line declares a function named "process_file()" that takes two arguments: 'input_file' and 'output_file', both of type &str. The function returns a 'Result' indicating success (Ok(())) or an error (Err(io::Error)).
• let file_content = fs::read_to_string(input_file)?;: This line reads the contents of the input file specified by 'input_file' into a String. The ? operator is used to propagate any errors that occur during file reading.
• let processed_content = file_content.to_uppercase();: This line converts the contents of file_content to uppercase using the to_uppercase() method.
• fs::write(output_file, processed_content)?;: This line writes the 'processed_content' to the output file specified by 'output_file'. Again, the ? operator is used to propagate any errors during file writing.
• fn main() -> Result<(), io::Error> {: This line declares the "main()" function, which also returns a 'Result' indicating success or failure.
• fs::write(input_file, contents).expect("Failed to create file");: This line creates an input file named "input.txt" with the content "Rust Exercises!".
• let output_file = "output.txt";: This line specifies the name of the output file as output.txt.
• process_file(input_file, output_file)?;: This line calls the "process_file()" function to process the input file and write the processed content to the output file. The ? operator is used to propagate errors.
• println!("File processed successfully.");: This line prints a success message if the program completes without errors.
• Ok(()): Finally, the function returns Ok(()) to indicate that the program executed successfully. If any error occurs during file processing or I/O operations, it will be returned as an Err(io::Error) type.

Rust Code Editor:

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