Iterating Over a Vector link

If it is desired to access each element of a vector, then it is possible to iterate over the elements of a vector using iter() rather than using the indexes to access a particular element of a vector using the square bracket notation

Iterate Using .iter() Built-in Method link

• we learned to remove an element given an index. However, to remove a particular element, we first need to find the index of that element and then call the remove function passing that index.

• For this we can use the .iter().position(|&e| e == element_name).unwrap().

Here,

• iter() is the built-in function that iterates over the elements of the vector.

• .position is a built-in function that takes the element name to get the position of that element in the vector, i.e., (|&e| e == element_name) defines a variable e with the value equal to the name of the element that we want to find.

• .unwrap() is the built-in function.

  fn main() {
    // defines a mutable vector
    let mut my_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    // define the value to be removed
    let value = 2; 
    // get the index of the value in the vector
    let index = my_vec.iter().position(|&r| r == value).unwrap();
    // call the built-in remove method
    my_vec.remove(index);
    // print the updated vector
    println!("Updated Vector: {:?}", my_vec);
}
  

output

  Updated Vector: [1, 3, 4, 5]
  

As you can see the value 2 is removed from the vector. you’ll learn how the iterator function helps to loop through each element in the vector index-by-index.

Loop Through the Values link

• Define a vector variable.
• The values of the vector within the loop can be traversed using .iter().

📝If you don’t write .iter() within the loop defination, a simple for loop will give you the same result.

    fn main() {
    // define a vector of size 5   
    let my_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    // using loop
    let mut index = 0;
    for i in my_vec.iter(){ // it works even if .iter() is not written
        println!("Element at index {}:{} ", index, i);
        index = index + 1;
    }
}
  
  

output

  Element at index 0:1 
Element at index 1:2 
Element at index 2:3 
Element at index 3:4 
Element at index 4:5 
  
  

Loops and Mutate Values link

• Define a mutable vector variable
• The values of the vector within the loop can be changed using .iter_mut().

    fn main() {
   // define a vector of size 5
   let mut my_vec = vec![1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
   println!("Initial Vector : {:?}", my_vec);
   for x in my_vec.iter_mut(){
       *x *= 3;
   }
   // print the updated vector
   println!("Updated Vector : {:?}", my_vec);
}
  
  

The following illustration shows how the above code works:

Quiz link

Test your understanding of looping through a vector in Rust.