Refactoring to Improve Modularity and Error Handling

Refactoring: Error Handling and Modularity

Current issues:

main function has multiple responsibilities
Configuration variables mixed with business logic
Generic error messages using expect
No input validation

Binary Project Organization Pattern

Standard Rust pattern for CLI applications:

main.rs: Command line parsing, configuration, calling run(), error handling
lib.rs: Application logic, testable functions

Extracting Configuration Parser

Extract argument parsing into a dedicated function:

use std::env;
use std::fs;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let (query, file_path) = parse_config(&args);

    // --snip--

    println!("Searching for {query}");
    println!("In file {file_path}");

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

fn parse_config(args: &[String]) -> (&str, &str) {
    let query = &args[1];
    let file_path = &args[2];

    (query, file_path)
}

Grouping Configuration Data

Use a struct instead of tuple for better semantics:

use std::env;
use std::fs;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = parse_config(&args);

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    // --snip--

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

fn parse_config(args: &[String]) -> Config {
    let query = args[1].clone();
    let file_path = args[2].clone();

    Config { query, file_path }
}

Note: Using clone() for simplicity. Chapter 13 covers more efficient approaches using iterators.

Constructor Pattern

Convert to associated function following Rust conventions:

use std::env;
use std::fs;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::new(&args);

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");

    // --snip--
}

// --snip--

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn new(args: &[String]) -> Config {
        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Config { query, file_path }
    }
}

Error Handling

Replace panic! with proper error handling:

use std::env;
use std::fs;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::new(&args);

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    // --snip--
    fn new(args: &[String]) -> Config {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            panic!("not enough arguments");
        }
        // --snip--

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Config { query, file_path }
    }
}

Returning Results

Better practice: return Result instead of panicking:

use std::env;
use std::fs;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::new(&args);

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

use std::env;
use std::fs;
use std::process;

fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
        println!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
        process::exit(1);
    });

    // --snip--

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

Key pattern: unwrap_or_else with closure for custom error handling and controlled exit codes.

Extracting Business Logic

Separate program logic from main:

use std::env;
use std::fs;
use std::process;

fn main() {
    // --snip--

    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
        println!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
        process::exit(1);
    });

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    run(config);
}

fn run(config: Config) {
    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)
        .expect("Should have been able to read the file");

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");
}

// --snip--

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

Propagating Errors

Make run return Result for proper error propagation:

use std::env;
use std::fs;
use std::process;
use std::error::Error;

// --snip--


fn main() {
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
        println!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
        process::exit(1);
    });

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    run(config);
}

fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");

    Ok(())
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

Using Box<dyn Error> trait object for flexible error types. The ? operator propagates errors instead of panicking.

Handle the returned Result in main:

use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
use std::process;

fn main() {
    // --snip--

    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
        println!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
        process::exit(1);
    });

    println!("Searching for {}", config.query);
    println!("In file {}", config.file_path);

    if let Err(e) = run(config) {
        println!("Application error: {e}");
        process::exit(1);
    }
}

fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;

    println!("With text:\n{contents}");

    Ok(())
}

struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

Creating Library Crate

Move business logic to lib.rs for better testability:

pub fn search<'a>(query: &str, contents: &'a str) -> Vec<&'a str> {
    unimplemented!();
}

use std::env;
use std::error::Error;
use std::fs;
use std::process;

// --snip--
use minigrep::search;

fn main() {
    // --snip--
    let args: Vec<String> = env::args().collect();

    let config = Config::build(&args).unwrap_or_else(|err| {
        println!("Problem parsing arguments: {err}");
        process::exit(1);
    });

    if let Err(e) = run(config) {
        println!("Application error: {e}");
        process::exit(1);
    }
}

// --snip--


struct Config {
    query: String,
    file_path: String,
}

impl Config {
    fn build(args: &[String]) -> Result<Config, &'static str> {
        if args.len() < 3 {
            return Err("not enough arguments");
        }

        let query = args[1].clone();
        let file_path = args[2].clone();

        Ok(Config { query, file_path })
    }
}

fn run(config: Config) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
    let contents = fs::read_to_string(config.file_path)?;

    for line in search(&config.query, &contents) {
        println!("{line}");
    }

    Ok(())
}

This structure enables:

Unit testing of business logic
Reusable library components
Clear separation of concerns
Better error handling patterns

The Rust Programming Language