Function core::ptr::read_unaligned

pub unsafe fn read_unaligned<T>(src: *const T) -> T

Reads the value from src without moving it. This leaves the memory in src unchanged.

Unlike read, read_unaligned works with unaligned pointers.

Safety

Behavior is undefined if any of the following conditions are violated:

• src must be valid for reads.

Like read, read_unaligned creates a bitwise copy of T, regardless of whether T is Copy. If T is not Copy, using both the returned value and the value at *src can violate memory safety.

Note that even if T has size 0, the pointer must be non-NULL.

Examples

Access members of a packed struct by reference:

use std::ptr;

#[repr(packed, C)]
struct Packed {
    _padding: u8,
    unaligned: u32,
}

let x = Packed {
    _padding: 0x00,
    unaligned: 0x01020304,
};

let v = unsafe {
    // Take the address of a 32-bit integer which is not aligned.
    // This must be done as a raw pointer; unaligned references are invalid.
    let unaligned = &x.unaligned as *const u32;

    // Dereferencing normally will emit an aligned load instruction,
    // causing undefined behavior.
    // let v = *unaligned; // ERROR

    // Instead, use `read_unaligned` to read improperly aligned values.
    let v = ptr::read_unaligned(unaligned);

    v
};

// Accessing unaligned values directly is safe.
assert!(x.unaligned == v);