Used for indexing operations (container[index]) in mutable contexts.

container[index] is actually syntactic sugar for *container.index_mut(index), but only when used as a mutable value. If an immutable value is requested, the Index trait is used instead. This allows nice things such as v[index] = value.

Examples

A very simple implementation of a Balance struct that has two sides, where each can be indexed mutably and immutably.

use std::ops::{Index, IndexMut};

#[derive(Debug)]
enum Side {
    Left,
    Right,
}

#[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
enum Weight {
    Kilogram(f32),
    Pound(f32),
}

struct Balance {
    pub left: Weight,
    pub right: Weight,
}

impl Index<Side> for Balance {
    type Output = Weight;

    fn index(&self, index: Side) -> &Self::Output {
        println!("Accessing {index:?}-side of balance immutably");
        match index {
            Side::Left => &self.left,
            Side::Right => &self.right,
        }
    }
}

impl IndexMut<Side> for Balance {
    fn index_mut(&mut self, index: Side) -> &mut Self::Output {
        println!("Accessing {index:?}-side of balance mutably");
        match index {
            Side::Left => &mut self.left,
            Side::Right => &mut self.right,
        }
    }
}

let mut balance = Balance {
    right: Weight::Kilogram(2.5),
    left: Weight::Pound(1.5),
};

// In this case, `balance[Side::Right]` is sugar for
// `*balance.index(Side::Right)`, since we are only *reading*
// `balance[Side::Right]`, not writing it.
assert_eq!(balance[Side::Right], Weight::Kilogram(2.5));

// However, in this case `balance[Side::Left]` is sugar for
// `*balance.index_mut(Side::Left)`, since we are writing
// `balance[Side::Left]`.
balance[Side::Left] = Weight::Kilogram(3.0);