Add some convenience methods to go from CStr -> str

A common problem when working with FFI right now is converting from raw
C strings into `&str` or `String`. Right now you're required to say
something like

    let cstr = unsafe { CStr::from_ptr(ptr) };
    let result = str::from_utf8(cstr.to_bytes());

This is slightly awkward, and is not particularly intuitive for people
who haven't used the ffi module before. We can do a bit better by
providing some convenience methods on CStr:

    fn to_str(&self) -> Result<&str, str::Utf8Error>
    fn to_string_lossy(&self) -> Cow<str>

This will make it immediately apparent to new users of CStr how to get a
string from a raw C string, so they can say:

    let s = unsafe { CStr::from_ptr(ptr).to_string_lossy() };

Author: lilyball

src/libstd/ffi/c_str.rs

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 #![unstable(feature = "std_misc")]
 
+use borrow::Cow;
 use convert::{Into, From};
 use cmp::{PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord, Ordering};
 use error::Error;
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ use ops::Deref;
 use option::Option::{self, Some, None};
 use result::Result::{self, Ok, Err};
 use slice;
+use str;
 use string::String;
 use vec::Vec;
 
@@ -114,6 +116,26 @@ pub struct CString {
 ///     work(&s);
 /// }
 /// ```
+///
+/// Converting a foreign C string into a Rust `String`
+///
+/// ```no_run
+/// # #![feature(libc)]
+/// extern crate libc;
+/// use std::ffi::CStr;
+///
+/// extern { fn my_string() -> *const libc::c_char; }
+///
+/// fn my_string_safe() -> String {
+///     unsafe {
+///         CStr::from_ptr(my_string()).to_string_lossy().to_owned()
+///     }
+/// }
+///
+/// fn main() {
+///     println!("string: {}", my_string_safe());
+/// }
+/// ```
 #[derive(Hash)]
 #[stable(feature = "rust1", since = "1.0.0")]
 pub struct CStr {
@@ -328,6 +350,39 @@ impl CStr {
     pub fn to_bytes_with_nul(&self) -> &[u8] {
         unsafe { mem::transmute::<&[libc::c_char], &[u8]>(&self.inner) }
     }
+
+    /// Yields a `&str` slice if the `CStr` contains valid UTF-8.
+    ///
+    /// This function will calculate the length of this string and check for
+    /// UTF-8 validity, and then return the `&str` if it's valid.
+    ///
+    /// > **Note**: This method is currently implemented to check for validity
+    /// > after a 0-cost cast, but it is planned to alter its definition in the
+    /// > future to perform the length calculation in addition to the UTF-8
+    /// > check whenever this method is called.
+    #[unstable(feature = "cstr_to_str", reason = "recently added")]
+    pub fn to_str(&self) -> Result<&str, str::Utf8Error> {
+        // NB: When CStr is changed to perform the length check in .to_bytes() instead of in
+        // from_ptr(), it may be worth considering if this should be rewritten to do the UTF-8
+        // check inline with the length calculation instead of doing it afterwards.
+        str::from_utf8(self.to_bytes())
+    }
+
+    /// Converts a `CStr` into a `Cow<str>`.
+    ///
+    /// This function will calculate the length of this string (which normally
+    /// requires a linear amount of work to be done) and then return the
+    /// resulting slice as a `Cow<str>`, replacing any invalid UTF-8 sequences
+    /// with `U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER`.
+    ///
+    /// > **Note**: This method is currently implemented to check for validity
+    /// > after a 0-cost cast, but it is planned to alter its definition in the
+    /// > future to perform the length calculation in addition to the UTF-8
+    /// > check whenever this method is called.
+    #[unstable(feature = "cstr_to_str", reason = "recently added")]
+    pub fn to_string_lossy(&self) -> Cow<str> {
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(self.to_bytes())
+    }
 }
 
 #[stable(feature = "rust1", since = "1.0.0")]
@@ -356,6 +411,7 @@ mod tests {
     use prelude::v1::*;
     use super::*;
     use libc;
+    use borrow::Cow::{Borrowed, Owned};
 
     #[test]
     fn c_to_rust() {
@@ -405,4 +461,20 @@ mod tests {
             assert_eq!(s.to_bytes_with_nul(), b"12\0");
         }
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn to_str() {
+        let data = b"123\xE2\x80\xA6\0";
+        let ptr = data.as_ptr() as *const libc::c_char;
+        unsafe {
+            assert_eq!(CStr::from_ptr(ptr).to_str(), Ok("123…"));
+            assert_eq!(CStr::from_ptr(ptr).to_string_lossy(), Borrowed("123…"));
+        }
+        let data = b"123\xE2\0";
+        let ptr = data.as_ptr() as *const libc::c_char;
+        unsafe {
+            assert!(CStr::from_ptr(ptr).to_str().is_err());
+            assert_eq!(CStr::from_ptr(ptr).to_string_lossy(), Owned::<str>(format!("123\u{FFFD}")));
+        }
+    }
 }