indexing: reword help

Co-authored-by: beef <ent3rm4n@gmail.com>

2 files changed, 17 insertions, 25 deletions

diff --git a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0608.md b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0608.md
index d0ebc3a26f0..3c29484f575 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0608.md
+++ b/compiler/rustc_error_codes/src/error_codes/E0608.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-An attempt to use index on a type which doesn't implement the `std::ops::Index`
-trait was performed.
+Attempted to index a value whose type doesn't implement the
+`std::ops::Index` trait.
 
 Erroneous code example:
 
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ Erroneous code example:
 0u8[2]; // error: cannot index into a value of type `u8`
 ```
 
-To be able to index into a type it needs to implement the `std::ops::Index`
-trait. Example:
+Only values with types that implement the `std::ops::Index` trait
+can be indexed with square brackets. Example:
 
 ```
 let v: Vec<u8> = vec![0, 1, 2, 3];
@@ -16,3 +16,10 @@ let v: Vec<u8> = vec![0, 1, 2, 3];
 // The `Vec` type implements the `Index` trait so you can do:
 println!("{}", v[2]);
 ```
+
+Tuples and structs are indexed with dot (`.`), not with brackets (`[]`),
+and tuple element names are their positions:
+```ignore(pseudo code)
+// this (pseudo code) expression is true for any tuple:
+tuple == (tuple.0, tuple.1, ...)
+```
diff --git a/compiler/rustc_hir_typeck/src/expr.rs b/compiler/rustc_hir_typeck/src/expr.rs
index d1ce0afddf9..f9cdc923670 100644
--- a/compiler/rustc_hir_typeck/src/expr.rs
+++ b/compiler/rustc_hir_typeck/src/expr.rs
@@ -3551,35 +3551,20 @@ impl<'a, 'tcx> FnCtxt<'a, 'tcx> {
                     );
                     // Try to give some advice about indexing tuples.
                     if let ty::Tuple(types) = base_t.kind() {
-                        let mut needs_note = true;
-                        // If the index is an integer, we can show the actual
-                        // fixed expression:
+                        err.help(
+                            "tuples are indexed with a dot and a literal index: `tuple.0`, `tuple.1`, etc.",
+                        );
+                        // If index is an unsuffixed integer, show the fixed expression:
                         if let ExprKind::Lit(lit) = idx.kind
                             && let ast::LitKind::Int(i, ast::LitIntType::Unsuffixed) = lit.node
-                            && i.get()
-                                < types
-                                    .len()
-                                    .try_into()
-                                    .expect("expected tuple index to be < usize length")
+                            && i.get() < types.len().try_into().expect("tuple length fits in u128")
                         {
                             err.span_suggestion(
                                 brackets_span,
-                                "to access tuple elements, use",
+                                format!("to access tuple element `{i}`, use"),
                                 format!(".{i}"),
                                 Applicability::MachineApplicable,
                             );
-                            needs_note = false;
-                        } else if let ExprKind::Path(..) = idx.peel_borrows().kind {
-                            err.span_label(
-                                idx.span,
-                                "cannot access tuple elements at a variable index",
-                            );
-                        }
-                        if needs_note {
-                            err.help(
-                                "to access tuple elements, use tuple indexing \
-                                        syntax (e.g., `tuple.0`)",
-                            );
                         }
                     }