## The `Drop` Trait Runs Code on Cleanup

The second trait important to the smart pointer pattern is `Drop`, which lets
us customize what happens when a value is about to go out of scope. We can
provide an implementation for the `Drop` trait on any type, and the code we
specify can be used to release resources like files or network connections.
We’re introducing `Drop` in the context of smart pointers because the
functionality of the `Drop` trait is almost always used when implementing a
smart pointer. For example, `Box<T>` customizes `Drop` to deallocate the space
on the heap that the box points to.

In some languages, the programmer must call code to free memory or resources
every time they finish using an instance of a smart pointer. If they forget,
the system might become overloaded and crash. In Rust, we can specify that a
particular bit of code should be run whenever a value goes out of scope, and
the compiler will insert this code automatically. As a result, we don’t need to
be careful about placing cleanup code everywhere in a program that an instance
of a particular type is finished with, but we still won’t leak resources!

We specify the code to run when a value goes out of scope by implementing the
`Drop` trait. The `Drop` trait requires us to implement one method named `drop`
that takes a mutable reference to `self`. To see when Rust calls `drop`, let’s
implement `drop` with `println!` statements for now.

Listing 15-14 shows a `CustomSmartPointer` struct whose only custom
functionality is that it will print `Dropping CustomSmartPointer!` when the
instance goes out of scope. This example demonstrates when Rust runs the `drop`
function:

Filename: src/main.rs

```rust
struct CustomSmartPointer {
    data: String,
}

impl Drop for CustomSmartPointer {
    fn drop(&mut self) {
        println!("Dropping CustomSmartPointer with data `{}`!", self.data);
    }
}

fn main() {
    let c = CustomSmartPointer { data: String::from("my stuff") };
    let d = CustomSmartPointer { data: String::from("other stuff") };
    println!("CustomSmartPointers created.");
}
```

Listing 15-14: A `CustomSmartPointer` struct that
implements the `Drop` trait where we would put our cleanup code

The `Drop` trait is included in the prelude, so we don’t need to import it. We
implement the `Drop` trait on `CustomSmartPointer` and provide an
implementation for the `drop` method that calls `println!`. The body of the
`drop` function is where you would place any logic that you wanted to run when
an instance of your type goes out of scope. We’re printing some text here to
demonstrate when Rust will call `drop`.

In `main`, we create two instances of `CustomSmartPointer` and then print
`CustomSmartPointers created.`. At the end of `main`, our instance of
`CustomSmartPointer` will go out of scope, and Rust will call the code we put
in the `drop` method, printing our final message. Note that we didn’t need to
call the `drop` method explicitly.

When we run this program, we’ll see the following output:

```text
CustomSmartPointers created.
Dropping CustomSmartPointer with data `other stuff`!
Dropping CustomSmartPointer with data `my stuff`!
```

Rust automatically called `drop` for us when our instance went out of scope,
calling the code we specified. Variables are dropped in the reverse order of
the order in which they were created, so `d` was dropped before `c`. This
example just gives you a visual guide to how the `drop` method works, but
usually you would specify the cleanup code that your type needs to run rather
than a print message.

### Dropping a Value Early with `std::mem::drop`

Unfortunately, it’s not straightforward to disable the automatic `drop`
functionality. Disabling `drop` isn’t usually necessary; the whole point of the
`Drop` trait is that it’s taken care of automatically. Occasionally, you might
want to clean up a value early. One example is when using smart pointers that
manage locks: you might want to force the `drop` method that releases the lock
to run so other code in the same scope can acquire the lock. Rust doesn’t let
us call the `Drop` trait’s `drop` method manually; instead we have to call the
`std::mem::drop` function provided by the standard library if we want to force
a value to be dropped before the end of its scope.

Let’s see what happens when we try to call the `Drop` trait’s `drop` method
manually by modifying the `main` function in Listing 15-14, as shown in Listing
15-15:

Filename: src/main.rs

```rust,ignore
fn main() {
    let c = CustomSmartPointer { data: String::from("some data") };
    println!("CustomSmartPointer created.");
    c.drop();
    println!("CustomSmartPointer dropped before the end of main.");
}
```

Listing 15-15: Attempting to call the `drop` method from
the `Drop` trait manually to clean up early

When we try to compile this code, we’ll get this error:

```text
error[E0040]: explicit use of destructor method
  --> src/main.rs:14:7
   |
14 |     c.drop();
   |       ^^^^ explicit destructor calls not allowed
```

This error message states that we’re not allowed to explicitly call `drop`. The
error message uses the term *destructor*, which is the general programming term
for a function that cleans up an instance. A *destructor* is analogous to a
*constructor* that creates an instance. The `drop` function in Rust is one
particular destructor.

Rust doesn’t let us call `drop` explicitly because Rust would still
automatically call `drop` on the value at the end of `main`. This would be a
*double free* error because Rust would be trying to clean up the same value
twice.

We can’t disable the automatic insertion of `drop` when a value goes out of
scope, and we can’t call the `drop` method explicitly. So, if we need to force
a value to be cleaned up early, we can use the `std::mem::drop` function.

The `std::mem::drop` function is different than the `drop` method in the `Drop`
trait. We call it by passing the value we want to force to be dropped early as
an argument. The function is in the prelude, so we can modify `main` in Listing
15-14 to call the `drop` function, as shown in Listing 15-16:

Filename: src/main.rs

```rust
# struct CustomSmartPointer {
#     data: String,
# }
#
# impl Drop for CustomSmartPointer {
#     fn drop(&mut self) {
#         println!("Dropping CustomSmartPointer!");
#     }
# }
#
fn main() {
    let c = CustomSmartPointer { data: String::from("some data") };
    println!("CustomSmartPointer created.");
    drop(c);
    println!("CustomSmartPointer dropped before the end of main.");
}
```

Listing 15-16: Calling `std::mem::drop` to explicitly
drop a value before it goes out of scope

Running this code will print the following:

```text
CustomSmartPointer created.
Dropping CustomSmartPointer with data `some data`!
CustomSmartPointer dropped before the end of main.
```

The text ```Dropping CustomSmartPointer with data `some data`!``` is printed
between the `CustomSmartPointer created.` and `CustomSmartPointer dropped
before the end of main.` text, showing that the `drop` method code is called to
drop `c` at that point.

We can use code specified in a `Drop` trait implementation in many ways to make
cleanup convenient and safe: for instance, we could use it to create our own
memory allocator! With the `Drop` trait and Rust’s ownership system, we don’t
have to remember to clean up because Rust does it automatically.

We also don’t have to worry about accidentally cleaning up values still in use
because that would cause a compiler error: the ownership system that makes sure
references are always valid also ensures that `drop` gets called only once when
the value is no longer being used.

Now that we’ve examined `Box<T>` and some of the characteristics of smart
pointers, let’s look at a few other smart pointers defined in the standard
library.
