Stage 9.3: Raw Pointers
References can be converted into a more primitive type called a raw pointer. Much like a number, it can be copied and moved around with little restriction. Rust makes no assurances of the validity of the memory location it points to.
Two kinds of raw pointers exist:
*const T- A raw pointer to data of type T that should never change.*mut T- A raw pointer to data of type T that can change.
Raw pointers can be converted to and from numbers (e.g. usize).
Raw pointers can access data with unsafe code (more on this later).
Memory details:
- A reference in Rust is very similar to a pointer in C in terms of usage, but with much more compile time restrictions on how it can be stored and moved around to other functions.
- A raw pointer in Rust is similar to a pointer in C that it represents a number that can be copied or passed around, and even turned into numerical types where it can be modifed as a number to do pointer math.
Further information: