rustrust-macrosrust-decl-macros

Generate attribute value via macro


Suppose I have an ident input parameter named module_name. How can I generate the value of the attribute through this parameter?

In simple terms, I want to generate something like this:

macro_rules! import_mod {
    ( $module_name:ident ) => {
        // This does not work,
        // but I want to generate the value of the feature attribute.
        // #[cfg(feature = $module_name)]
        pub mod $module_name;
    }
}

import_mod!(module1);

// #[cfg(feature = "module1")]
// pub mod module1;

Solution

  • The argument in the compiler directive must be a literal.

    One half decent work-around is to take a literal as well as your 'feature':

    macro_rules! my_import {
        ( $module_name:ident, $feature_name:literal ) => {
            #[cfg(feature = $feature_name)]
            mod $module_name;
        }
    }
    
    my_import!(foo, "foo");
    

    For reference - https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/reference/attributes.html#meta-item-attribute-syntax

    To summarize: most built in attributes have the rule #[<attribute> = <literal>]