How to Use the Self Type in Rust

Use Self as a type alias for the implementing type within an impl block to avoid repeating the type name. This is especially useful when defining methods that return the same type or take it as an argument.

struct Rectangle {
    width: u32,
    height: u32,
}

impl Rectangle {
    fn can_hold(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
        self.width > other.width && self.height > other.height
    }

    fn new(width: u32, height: u32) -> Self {
        Rectangle { width, height }
    }
}

Self is a shortcut that lets you refer to the current struct or enum without typing its full name every time. It makes your code cleaner and easier to update if you decide to rename the type later. Think of it like using 'this' in other languages to point to the object you are currently working on.