The regular slice type &[T] lets you access and manipulate individual elements. But Rust strings enforce the invariant that they are valid Unicode, which puts r

The regular slice type &[T] lets you access and manipulate individual elements. But Rust strings enforce the invariant that they are valid Unicode, which puts restrictions on element-wise operations. Calling &str a "string slice" is really more about the contrast with String, and how the relationship there mirrors the relationship between &[T] and Vec<T>. It's more of an analogy than a concrete description of the interface.