Press F5 to save, compile, and run current rust file

Question

Similar to Visual Studio, when working with Rust programs, I'd like to press F5 to save the current file, compile it, and run it.

What's a good way to do this?

dharmatech · Answer 1 · 2014-10-14T14:30:03.860

6

Below is one approach for Windows. If you're in a rust project, it'll run cargo run. Otherwise, it'll use rustc.

(defun rust-save-compile-and-run ()
  (interactive)
  (save-buffer)

  (if (locate-dominating-file (buffer-file-name) "Cargo.toml")

      (compile "cargo run")

    (compile
     (format "rustc %s & %s"
         (buffer-file-name)
         (file-name-sans-extension (buffer-file-name))))))

(add-hook 'rust-mode-hook
      (lambda ()
        (define-key rust-mode-map (kbd "<f5>") 'rust-save-compile-and-run)))

edited Oct 14 '14 at 14:30

answered Oct 14 '14 at 03:26

dharmatech

1,212
7
19

How much harder would it be to make this work with cargo projects with multiple bins? I think it can be done by invoking just `cargo` once [this PR](https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo/pull/702) PR is merged. – Dogbert Oct 14 '14 at 08:14
How does `locate-dominating-file` work here? Does it scan all parent directories to the file you're in to check for `Cargo.toml`? – ruscur Oct 15 '14 at 00:24

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 14 '14 at 03:33

Here my version of compile:

(global-set-key (kbd "<f5>") (lambda ()
                               (interactive)
                               (save-buffer)
                               (setq-local compilation-read-command nil)
                               (call-interactively 'compile)))

Basically it reuses previously executed compile command; if you supply with a prefix argument, you are prompted for a new compile command for future reuse.

Press F5 to save, compile, and run current rust file

2 Answers2