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# Scope and Shadowing
Variable bindings have a scope, and are constrained to live in a *block*. A
block is a collection of statements enclosed by braces `{}`.
```rust,editable,ignore,mdbook-runnable
fn main() {
// This binding lives in the main function
let long_lived_binding = 1;
// This is a block, and has a smaller scope than the main function
{
// This binding only exists in this block
let short_lived_binding = 2;
println!("inner short: {}", short_lived_binding);
}
// End of the block
// Error! `short_lived_binding` doesn't exist in this scope
println!("outer short: {}", short_lived_binding);
// FIXME ^ Comment out this line
println!("outer long: {}", long_lived_binding);
}
```
Also, [variable shadowing][variable-shadow] is allowed.
```rust,editable,ignore,mdbook-runnable
fn main() {
let shadowed_binding = 1;
{
println!("before being shadowed: {}", shadowed_binding);
// This binding *shadows* the outer one
let shadowed_binding = "abc";
println!("shadowed in inner block: {}", shadowed_binding);
}
println!("outside inner block: {}", shadowed_binding);
// This binding *shadows* the previous binding
let shadowed_binding = 2;
println!("shadowed in outer block: {}", shadowed_binding);
}
```
[variable-shadow]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_shadowing