#[must_use] on associated function definition when trait declaration does not have it should still trigger warning when calling function concretely

I expect the following code (Playpen) to emit a warning on the last line of main that the result of s.the_must_use_fn() must be used.

fn main () {
    let s = Struct;
    s.the_must_use_fn();
}

trait Trait {
    fn the_must_use_fn(&self) -> String;
}

struct Struct;

impl Trait for Struct {
    #[must_use]
    fn the_must_use_fn(&self) -> String { "".to_string() }
}

Ref #43302 as the tracking issue for this feature.

This is expected (or at least, known) behavior; the #[must_use] attribute needs to go on the function signature in the trait definition, not the implementation. I argue that the current behavior makes sense: the semantics of a trait method should be the same across implementations. We should document this better, though—thanks for starting on that!

Then there should be a warning when #[must_use] is on a trait method.

But while it is known behavior, I didn't expect it. I expect that concretely calling a trait method should work the same as concretely calling an inherent method. Of course, when called generically, it should only look at the trait declaration.

Current output:

warning: `#[must_use]` attribute cannot be used on trait methods in impl blocks
  --> src/main.rs:13:5
   |
13 |     #[must_use]
   |     ^^^^^^^^^^^
   |
   = warning: this was previously accepted by the compiler but is being phased out; it will become a hard error in a future release!
   = help: `#[must_use]` can be applied to data types, foreign functions, functions, inherent methods, provided trait methods, required trait methods, traits, and unions
   = note: `#[warn(unused_attributes)]` (part of `#[warn(unused)]`) on by default

When setting it in the trait:

warning: unused return value of `Trait::the_must_use_fn` that must be used
 --> src/main.rs:3:5
  |
3 |     s.the_must_use_fn();
  |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  |
  = note: `#[warn(unused_must_use)]` (part of `#[warn(unused)]`) on by default
help: use `let _ = ...` to ignore the resulting value
  |
3 |     let _ = s.the_must_use_fn();
  |     +++++++

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#[must_use] on associated function definition when trait declaration does not have it should still trigger warning when calling function concretely #48486

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#[must_use] on associated function definition when trait declaration does not have it should still trigger warning when calling function concretely #48486

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zackmdavis commented on Feb 23, 2018

Havvy commented on Feb 23, 2018

estebank commented on Nov 3, 2025

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