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Exactly what you said -- it's not possible to make something that must be used exactly once. See https://gankro.github.io/blah/linear-rust/ for a deeper explanation.

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You can't make a type that must be used exactly once, but you can often express that requirement in some other way. One technique is to require that some top-level function returns a value of the terminal type; then you can't accidentally abandon a computation part-way through. Here's a silly example:

https://play.rust-lang.org/?gist=b875377faa6e22b74ba8661ee10...

That little DSL lets you make multi-layer burgers, but only where bacon and patties alternate, and there is a bun on the top.

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