How do I call the function when a variable and function have a same name?

Question

A variable and function have the same name. How do I call the function?

fn main() {
    let a = 1;
    fn a() -> i32 {
        2
    }
    println!("{}", a());
}

The Rust compiler told me:

error[E0618]: expected function, found `{integer}`

In other words, the Rust compiler does not call the a function, but instead accesses the a variable.

Answer 1

This can't be done because you don't have both the function and the integer in scope where you have your println.

Because functions are normally available for the entire scope (i.e. you can use them before their declaration), their declaration is conceptually moved to the start of the scope (they're "hoisted").

A consequence is that the function declaration is before the integer variable declaration and is shadowed.

The real fix of your code would depend on your exact situation. Maybe something like this:

fn main() {
    {
        let a = 1;
        // use the integer there
    }
    fn a() -> i32 {
        2
    }
    println!("{}", a());
}