Slice types - The Rust Reference

# Slice types

> Syntax
> SliceType :
> `[` Type `]`

A slice is a dynamically sized type representing a 'view' into a sequence of elements of type `T`. The slice type is written as `[T]`.

To use a slice type it generally has to be used behind a pointer for example as:

- `&[T]`, a 'shared slice', often just called a 'slice', it doesn't own the data it points to, it borrows it.
- `&mut [T]`, a 'mutable slice', mutably borrows the data it points to.
- `Box<[T]>`, a 'boxed slice'

Examples:

    # #![allow(unused_variables)]
    #fn main() {
    // A heap-allocated array, coerced to a slice
    let boxed_array: Box<[i32]> = Box::new([1, 2, 3]);

    // A (shared) slice into an array
    let slice: &[i32] = &boxed_array[..];
    #}

All elements of slices are always initialized, and access to a slice is always bounds-checked in safe methods and operators.