How Does Ownership Work with Vectors and Collections?

Ownership in Rust means the Vec or collection owns its data, and moving the collection transfers that ownership to a new variable, invalidating the old one. To share data without moving it, you must borrow references instead of assigning the collection directly.

let v1 = vec![1, 2, 3];
let v2 = v1; // v1 is moved; v2 now owns the data
// println!("{:?}", v1); // Error: use of moved value
let v3 = &v2; // v3 borrows v2; v2 still owns the data
println!("{:?}", v3); // OK

Ownership is like holding a physical object; if you hand it to someone else, you no longer have it. Collections like Vectors own their data, so assigning them moves the data to the new variable. To look at the data without taking it, you borrow it like reading a book from a library.