Attribute

Attribute procedural macros define new outer attributes which can be attached to items. This type can be invoked with the #[attr] or #[attr(…)] syntax where … is an arbitrary token tree.

A simple skeleton of an attribute procedural macro looks like the following:

use proc_macro::TokenStream;

#[proc_macro_attribute]
pub fn tlborm_attribute(input: TokenStream, annotated_item: TokenStream) -> TokenStream {
    annotated_item
}

Of note here is that unlike the other two procedural macro kinds, this one has two input parameters instead of one.

  • The first parameter is the delimited token tree following the attribute's name, excluding the delimiters around it. It is empty if the attribute is written bare, that is just a name without a (TokenTree) following it, e.g. #[attr].
  • The second token stream is the item the attribute is attached to without the attribute this proc macro defines. As this is an active attribute, the attribute will be stripped from the item before it is being passed to the proc macro.

The returned token stream will replace the annotated item fully. Note that the replacement does not have to be a single item, it can be 0 or more.

Usage example:

use tlborm_proc::tlborm_attribute;

#[tlborm_attribute]
fn foo() {}

#[tlborm_attribute(attributes are pretty handsome)]
fn bar() {}