Slices

Getting a BitSlice
1. Borrowing Constructors
2. Macro Constructor
What BitSlice Can Do
Footnotes

The base type of the project is BitSlice. This is a region type, like [bool], and cannot be held directly. Instead, it is accessed by borrowed references (&BitSlice, &mut BitSlice) or owning handles (BitArray, BitBox, BitVec). The distinction between the handles and the region is the same as it is in ordinary Rust types.

The BitSlice region is able to begin and end at any bit in memory, and is not restricted to having one edge aligned to the edge of its initial element. This restriction, present in all of its competitors, is removed through the use of a special encoding in all pointers to the region, which stores the starting bit of the base element in part of the slice pointer that describes the real memory.

There are eight bits to a byte on all systems Rust targets, and therefore the index of a bit within a byte is itself three bits wide. These bits are taken from the length counter of a slice pointer, which means that BitSlice is able to address only ⅛^th of the indices that [bool] can.

This is 64 Mebibytes on a 32-bit system, and 256 Pebibytes on a 64-bit system. If you can even allocate that much real memory in one handle, then you have very different operating conditions than I can help you with.

Getting a `BitSlice`

BitSlice is strictly a borrowed region. It can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, views to it are acquired from a memory buffer that some other binding owns.

The BitStore chapter covers this in more detail, but only slices of the unsigned integers u8, u16, u32, usize, and (on 64-bit targets) u64 can be used as the source memory for a BitSlice. (You can also use their Cell<> wrappers or atomic variants; this will be discussed later).

Borrowing Constructors

The simplest way to create a BitSlice reference is to borrow it from ordinary Rust data. The BitView trait, available in the prelude, implements methods on the supported unsigned integers, all arrays of them, and their slices.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use bitvec::prelude::*;

let byte = 0u8;
let bits = byte.view_bits::<LocalBits>();

let array = [0u16; 2];
let bits = array.view_bits::<Lsb0>();

let mut array = [0u32; 3];
let slice = &mut array[..];
let bits = slice.view_bits_mut::<Msb0>();
}

The .view_bits() and .view_bits_mut() methods take the other type parameter bitvec requires. This is described in the BitOrder chapter. Use Lsb0 until you have a specific need for a more precise parameter.

In addition, BitSlice offers constructor functions ::from_element(), ::from_slice(), and their _mut variants, which borrow elements and slices, respectively, and construct &/mut BitSlice references from them. The trait methods are generally easier, and certainly shorter to write, but they all do the same work.

Lastly, empty slices can be produced with the ::empty() or ::empty_mut() functions, since there is no &[] or &mut [] literal available.

Macro Constructor

In addition to these method constructors, you may also use the bits! constructor macro. This macro runs at compile-time to produce a buffer containing the correct data values, then borrows it as a BitSlice reference. It is a macro_rules! macro, not a procedural macro, and should not have a significant impact on your compilation times.

By default, the produced buffer is a temporary that the compiler will then extend to have the minimum lifetime of the produced reference handle. However, you can use the static keyword to cause the macro to produce a hidden and unnameable static BitArray backing buffer, which then provides the &'static BitSlice lifetime. Since this static buffer cannot be named, it is safe to use even when mutable, as the provided reference is the only handle to it.

The macro syntax extends that of vec!. The simplest invocations are sequences or repetitions of expressions, which can optionally be made mutable:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use bitvec::prelude::*;

let r = bits![0, 1, 0, 1];
let w = bits![mut 0, 1, 0, 1];

let r2 = bits![static 1; 4];
let w2 = bits![static mut 1; 4];
}

You are not required to use the literals 0 or 1; you can use any expression that is const-evaluable and can be placed into the expression expr != 0. This means that you cannot use the names of runtime let bindings, but can use the names of const bindings, or other literals. You probably do not want to do this, but you can.

In addition, you can specify the bit-ordering parameter and the integer storage parameter, for even more precise control over the memory layout. If you do not specify them, the macro uses the default parameters of usize storage and Lsb0 ordering.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use bitvec::prelude::*;

let in_bytes = bits![u8, LocalBits; 0, 1, 0, 1];
let in_shorts = bits![u16, Lsb0; 0, 1, 0, 1];
let in_ints = bits![mut u32, Msb0; 0; 4];
}

To summarize the macro rules:

If the first macro argument is mut, then the macro produces &mut BitSlice, otherwise it produces &BitSlice. You do not need to bind the name as mut unless you want to reässign it to a different slice.
You may then optionally provide the storage and ordering type parameters, followed by a semicolon. If you choose to add type parameters:
- You must provide the bit-ordering parameter.
- You may provide the storage parameter.
The data input to the macro is one of the two vec! token lists:
- One or more expressions that can be placed into $expr != 0, separated by commas. A trailing comma is permitted.
- A single expression that can be placed into $expr != 0, followed by a semicolon and a repetition counter. The resulting BitSlice will be counter bits long, all set to expression.

Emulation tests indicate that bitvec correctly instructs the compiler to produce suitable buffers even when compiling for a target with a different byte-endianness than the host. However, I have not actually performed such cross-compilation and testing with real hardware. It should be correct; please file an issue if it is not.

What `BitSlice` Can Do

Now that you have acquired a BitSlice reference, either by borrowing memory from elsewhere in your program or by creating a temporary, it is time to do some actual work with it.

… That `[bool]` Can

Everything¹. I am not going to rewrite the standard library’s slice documentation here.

… That `[bool]` Cannot

In addition to the standard library [bool] API, BitSlice offers some inherent methods tailored to its specialization.

Set Queries

The five query methods .any(), .all(), .not_any(), .not_all(), and .some() test how many bits in a region are set to 1. As you can guess from the names, these methods have the following truth table:

Slice	`any`	`all`	`not_any`	`not_all`	`some`
`00`	`false`	`false`	`true`	`true`	`false`
`01`	`true`	`false`	`false`	`true`	`true`
`11`	`true`	`true`	`false`	`false`	`false`

any is the Boolean OR operator; all is the Boolean AND operator, and some is the Boolean XOR operator.

In addition, .count_ones() and .count_zeros() count how many bits of the slice are set to one or zero, rather than merely indicating whether any exist. These methods are slower than the Boolean queries, which are capable of short-circuiting once satisfied. You can also use .iter_{ones,zeros}() to walk each index of bits with the specified value. These are equivalent to running .filter() and .enumerate() calls on iterators of bool, but are specialized to use dedicated bit-counting instructions where processors provide them.

Boolean Arithmetic

bitvec data structures all implement the Boolean operators (&, |, ^, and !) against each other.

In version 0, they allowed any impl Iterator<Item = bool>. This has been changed for performance reasons, since people never used the arbitrary iterator support but did require improved behavior when operating on two bit-slices.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use bitvec::prelude::*;

let mut or  =  bits![mut 0, 0, 1, 1];
        or |=  bits![    0, 1, 0, 1];
assert_eq!(or, bits![    0, 1, 1, 1]);

let mut and  =  bits![mut 0, 0, 1, 1];
        and &=  bits![    0, 1, 0, 1];
assert_eq!(and, bits![    0, 0, 0, 1]);

let mut xor  =  bits![mut 0, 0, 1, 1];
        xor ^=  bits![    0, 1, 0, 1];
assert_eq!(xor, bits![    0, 1, 1, 0]);

let mut not = bits![mut 0, 1];
        not = !not;
assert_eq!(not, bits![  1, 0]);
}

Writing To Memory

You can set all bits in a region to a new value by using the .fill() method, or you can set one bit in a region to a new value by using either the .set or .get_mut methods. .get_mut produces a proxy type which acts roughly like an &mut bool reference slot.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use bitvec::prelude::*;

let bits = bits![0; 4];
assert!(bits.not_any());

bits[0 .. 1].set_all(true);
assert!(bits[0]);

bits.set(1, true);
assert!(bits[1]);

*bits.get_mut(2).unwrap() = true;
assert!(bits[2]);

let mut bit = bits.get_mut(3).unwrap();
assert!(!bit);
*bit = true;
assert!(bits[3]);

assert!(bits.all());
}

The proxy type produced by .get_mut() implements DerefMut<Target = bool>, so you can assign into it and read out of it. However, it does not commit the value assigned into it back to its source BitSlice until it Drops.

You can force the destruction of a named proxy reference by using its .commit() method, which takes self by value, destroying it and releasing the borrow.

Viewing the Underlying Memory

The memory underlying any bit-slice region is subject to some restrictions about aliasing that are documented more thoroughly in the domain module and the Memory Model chapter. In short, borrowed BitSlice regions cannot view their underlying memory directly without violating aliasing rules established by either the Rust language or by bitvec itself. Instead, the .domain() and .domain_mut() methods provide views that correctly handle aliasing and edge conditions, and mediate access to the underlying memory.

The owning handles (BitArray, BitVec, and BitBox) do not have this limitation, as they can guarantee unique access to a memory location without any possibility of aliasing. As such, these types all have .as_raw_slice() and .as_raw_mut_slice() methods that provide ordinary slice views to their storage region.

Footnotes

Except write-assignment through indexing. I am not going to keep mentioning this exception.

A User’s Guide to the `bitvec` Project