# `From` and `Into`

The [`From`] and [`Into`] traits are inherently linked, and this is actually part of
its implementation. If you are able to convert type A from type B, then it
should be easy to believe that we should be able to convert type B to type A.

## `From`

The [`From`] trait allows for a type to define how to create itself from another
type, hence providing a very simple mechanism for converting between several
types. There are numerous implementations of this trait within the standard
library for conversion of primitive and common types.

For example we can easily convert a `str` into a `String`

```rust
let my_str = "hello";
let my_string = String::from(my_str);
```

We can do similar for defining a conversion for our own type.

```rust,editable
use std::convert::From;

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Number {
    value: i32,
}

impl From<i32> for Number {
    fn from(item: i32) -> Self {
        Number { value: item }
    }
}

fn main() {
    let num = Number::from(30);
    println!("My number is {:?}", num);
}
```

## `Into`

The [`Into`] trait is simply the reciprocal of the `From` trait. That is, if you
have implemented the `From` trait for your type you get the `Into`
implementation for free.

Using the `Into` trait will typically require specification of the type to
convert into as the compiler is unable to determine this most of the time.
However this is a small trade-off considering we get the functionality for free.

```rust,editable
use std::convert::From;

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Number {
    value: i32,
}

impl From<i32> for Number {
    fn from(item: i32) -> Self {
        Number { value: item }
    }
}

fn main() {
    let int = 5;
    // Try removing the type declaration
    let num: Number = int.into();
    println!("My number is {:?}", num);
}
```

[`From`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/convert/trait.From.html
[`Into`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/convert/trait.Into.html
