Go Types Official Reference

Official Reference

The types include:

Method sets Boolean types Numeric types String types Array types Slice types Struct types Pointer types Function types Interface types Map types Channel types

Method sets

A type may have a method set associated with it. The method set of an interface type is its interface. The method set of any other type T consists of all methods declared with receiver type T. The method set of the corresponding pointer type *T is the set of all methods declared with receiver *T or T (that is, it also contains the method set of T). Further rules apply to structs containing embedded fields, as described in the section on struct types. Any other type has an empty method set. In a method set, each method must have a unique non-blank method name.

The method set of a type determines the interfaces that the type implements and the methods that can be called using a receiver of that type.

Boolean types

A boolean type represents the set of Boolean truth values denoted by the predeclared constants true and false. The predeclared boolean type is bool; it is a defined type.

Numeric types

A numeric type represents sets of integer or floating-point values. The predeclared architecture-independent numeric types are:

uint8       the set of all unsigned  8-bit integers (0 to 255)
uint16      the set of all unsigned 16-bit integers (0 to 65535)
uint32      the set of all unsigned 32-bit integers (0 to 4294967295)
uint64      the set of all unsigned 64-bit integers (0 to 18446744073709551615)

int8        the set of all signed  8-bit integers (-128 to 127)
int16       the set of all signed 16-bit integers (-32768 to 32767)
int32       the set of all signed 32-bit integers (-2147483648 to 2147483647)
int64       the set of all signed 64-bit integers (-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807)

float32     the set of all IEEE-754 32-bit floating-point numbers
float64     the set of all IEEE-754 64-bit floating-point numbers

complex64   the set of all complex numbers with float32 real and imaginary parts
complex128  the set of all complex numbers with float64 real and imaginary parts

byte        alias for uint8
rune        alias for int32

The value of an n-bit integer is n bits wide and represented using two’s complement arithmetic.

There is also a set of predeclared numeric types with implementation-specific sizes:

uint     either 32 or 64 bits
int      same size as uint
uintptr  an unsigned integer large enough to store the uninterpreted bits of a pointer value

To avoid portability issues all numeric types are defined types and thus distinct except byte, which is an alias for uint8, and rune, which is an alias for int32. Conversions are required when different numeric types are mixed in an expression or assignment. For instance, int32 and int are not the same type even though they may have the same size on a particular architecture.

String types

A string type represents the set of string values. A string value is a (possibly empty) sequence of bytes. Strings are immutable: once created, it is impossible to change the contents of a string. The predeclared string type is string; it is a defined type.

The length of a string s (its size in bytes) can be discovered using the built-in function len. The length is a compile-time constant if the string is a constant. A string’s bytes can be accessed by integer indices 0 through len(s)-1. It is illegal to take the address of such an element; if s[i] is the i‘th byte of a string, &s[i] is invalid.

Array types

An array is a numbered sequence of elements of a single type, called the element type. The number of elements is called the length and is never negative.

ArrayType   = "[" ArrayLength "]" ElementType .
ArrayLength = Expression .
ElementType = Type .

The length is part of the array’s type; it must evaluate to a non-negative constant representable by a value of type int. The length of array a can be discovered using the built-in function len. The elements can be addressed by integer indices 0 through len(a)-1. Array types are always one-dimensional but may be composed to form multi-dimensional types.

[32]byte
[2*N] struct { x, y int32 }
[1000]*float64
[3][5]int
[2][2][2]float64  // same as [2]([2]([2]float64))

Slice types

A slice is a descriptor for a contiguous segment of an underlying array and provides access to a numbered sequence of elements from that array. A slice type denotes the set of all slices of arrays of its element type. The value of an uninitialized slice is nil.

SliceType = "[" "]" ElementType .

Like arrays, slices are indexable and have a length. The length of a slice s can be discovered by the built-in function len; unlike with arrays it may change during execution. The elements can be addressed by integer indices 0 through len(s)-1. The slice index of a given element may be less than the index of the same element in the underlying array.

A slice, once initialized, is always associated with an underlying array that holds its elements. A slice therefore shares storage with its array and with other slices of the same array; by contrast, distinct arrays always represent distinct storage.

The array underlying a slice may extend past the end of the slice. The capacity is a measure of that extent: it is the sum of the length of the slice and the length of the array beyond the slice; a slice of length up to that capacity can be created by slicing a new one from the original slice. The capacity of a slice a can be discovered using the built-in function cap(a).

A new, initialized slice value for a given element type T is made using the built-in function make, which takes a slice type and parameters specifying the length and optionally the capacity. A slice created with make always allocates a new, hidden array to which the returned slice value refers. That is, executing

make([]T, length, capacity)

produces the same slice as allocating an array and slicing it, so these two expressions are equivalent:

make([]int, 50, 100)
new([100]int)[0:50]

Like arrays, slices are always one-dimensional but may be composed to construct higher-dimensional objects. With arrays of arrays, the inner arrays are, by construction, always the same length; however with slices of slices (or arrays of slices), the inner lengths may vary dynamically. Moreover, the inner slices must be initialized individually.

Struct types

A struct is a sequence of named elements, called fields, each of which has a name and a type. Field names may be specified explicitly (IdentifierList) or implicitly (EmbeddedField). Within a struct, non-blank field names must be unique.

StructType    = "struct" "{" { FieldDecl ";" } "}" .
FieldDecl     = (IdentifierList Type | EmbeddedField) [ Tag ] .
EmbeddedField = [ "*" ] TypeName .
Tag           = string_lit .

// An empty struct.
struct {}

// A struct with 6 fields.
struct {
	x, y int
	u float32
	_ float32  // padding
	A *[]int
	F func()
}

A field declared with a type but no explicit field name is called an embedded field. An embedded field must be specified as a type name T or as a pointer to a non-interface type name *T, and T itself may not be a pointer type. The unqualified type name acts as the field name.

// A struct with four embedded fields of types T1, *T2, P.T3 and *P.T4
struct {
	T1        // field name is T1
	*T2       // field name is T2
	P.T3      // field name is T3
	*P.T4     // field name is T4
	x, y int  // field names are x and y
}

The following declaration is illegal because field names must be unique in a struct type:

struct {
	T     // conflicts with embedded field *T and *P.T
	*T    // conflicts with embedded field T and *P.T
	*P.T  // conflicts with embedded field T and *T
}

A field or method f of an embedded field in a struct x is called promoted if x.f is a legal selector that denotes that field or method f.

Promoted fields act like ordinary fields of a struct except that they cannot be used as field names in composite literals of the struct.

Given a struct type S and a defined type T, promoted methods are included in the method set of the struct as follows:

If S contains an embedded field T, the method sets of S and *S both include promoted methods with receiver T. The method set of *S also includes promoted methods with receiver *T.
If S contains an embedded field *T, the method sets of S and *S both include promoted methods with receiver T or*T.

A field declaration may be followed by an optional string literal tag, which becomes an attribute for all the fields in the corresponding field declaration. An empty tag string is equivalent to an absent tag. The tags are made visible through a reflection interface and take part in type identity for structs but are otherwise ignored.

struct {
	x, y float64 ""  // an empty tag string is like an absent tag
	name string  "any string is permitted as a tag"
	_    [4]byte "ceci n'est pas un champ de structure"
}

// A struct corresponding to a TimeStamp protocol buffer.
// The tag strings define the protocol buffer field numbers;
// they follow the convention outlined by the reflect package.
struct {
	microsec  uint64 `protobuf:"1"`
	serverIP6 uint64 `protobuf:"2"`
}

Pointer types

A pointer type denotes the set of all pointers to variables of a given type, called the base type of the pointer. The value of an uninitialized pointer is nil.

PointerType = "*" BaseType .
BaseType    = Type .

*Point
*[4]int

Function types

A function type denotes the set of all functions with the same parameter and result types. The value of an uninitialized variable of function type is nil.

FunctionType   = "func" Signature .
Signature      = Parameters [ Result ] .
Result         = Parameters | Type .
Parameters     = "(" [ ParameterList [ "," ] ] ")" .
ParameterList  = ParameterDecl { "," ParameterDecl } .
ParameterDecl  = [ IdentifierList ] [ "..." ] Type .

Within a list of parameters or results, the names (IdentifierList) must either all be present or all be absent. If present, each name stands for one item (parameter or result) of the specified type and all non-blank names in the signature must be unique. If absent, each type stands for one item of that type. Parameter and result lists are always parenthesized except that if there is exactly one unnamed result it may be written as an unparenthesized type.

The final incoming parameter in a function signature may have a type prefixed with …. A function with such a parameter is called variadic and may be invoked with zero or more arguments for that parameter.

func()
func(x int) int
func(a, _ int, z float32) bool
func(a, b int, z float32) (bool)
func(prefix string, values ...int)
func(a, b int, z float64, opt ...interface{}) (success bool)
func(int, int, float64) (float64, *[]int)
func(n int) func(p *T)

Interface types

An interface type specifies a method set called its interface. A variable of interface type can store a value of any type with a method set that is any superset of the interface. Such a type is said to implement the interface. The value of an uninitialized variable of interface type is nil.

InterfaceType      = "interface" "{" { MethodSpec ";" } "}" .
MethodSpec         = MethodName Signature | InterfaceTypeName .
MethodName         = identifier .
InterfaceTypeName  = TypeName .

As with all method sets, in an interface type, each method must have a unique non-blank name.

// A simple File interface
interface {
	Read(b Buffer) bool
	Write(b Buffer) bool
	Close()
}

More than one type may implement an interface. For instance, if two types S1 and S2 have the method set

func (p T) Read(b Buffer) bool { return … }
func (p T) Write(b Buffer) bool { return … }
func (p T) Close() { … }

(where T stands for either S1 or S2) then the File interface is implemented by both S1 and S2, regardless of what other methods S1 and S2 may have or share.

A type implements any interface comprising any subset of its methods and may therefore implement several distinct interfaces. For instance, all types implement the empty interface:

interface{} Similarly, consider this interface specification, which appears within a type declaration to define an interface called Locker:

type Locker interface {
	Lock()
	Unlock()
}

If S1 and S2 also implement

func (p T) Lock() { … }
func (p T) Unlock() { … }

they implement the Locker interface as well as the File interface.

An interface T may use a (possibly qualified) interface type name E in place of a method specification. This is called embedding interface E in T; it adds all (exported and non-exported) methods of E to the interface T.

type ReadWriter interface {
	Read(b Buffer) bool
	Write(b Buffer) bool
}

type File interface {
	ReadWriter  // same as adding the methods of ReadWriter
	Locker      // same as adding the methods of Locker
	Close()
}

type LockedFile interface {
	Locker
	File        // illegal: Lock, Unlock not unique
	Lock()      // illegal: Lock not unique
}

An interface type T may not embed itself or any interface type that embeds T, recursively.

// illegal: Bad cannot embed itself
type Bad interface {
	Bad
}

// illegal: Bad1 cannot embed itself using Bad2
type Bad1 interface {
	Bad2
}
type Bad2 interface {
	Bad1
}

Map types

A map is an unordered group of elements of one type, called the element type, indexed by a set of unique keys of another type, called the key type. The value of an uninitialized map is nil.

MapType = “map” “[” KeyType “]” ElementType . KeyType = Type . The comparison operators == and != must be fully defined for operands of the key type; thus the key type must not be a function, map, or slice. If the key type is an interface type, these comparison operators must be defined for the dynamic key values; failure will cause a run-time panic.

map[string]int map[*T]struct{ x, y float64 } map[string]interface{} The number of map elements is called its length. For a map m, it can be discovered using the built-in function len and may change during execution. Elements may be added during execution using assignments and retrieved with index expressions; they may be removed with the delete built-in function.

A new, empty map value is made using the built-in function make, which takes the map type and an optional capacity hint as arguments:

make(map[string]int) make(map[string]int, 100) The initial capacity does not bound its size: maps grow to accommodate the number of items stored in them, with the exception of nil maps. A nil map is equivalent to an empty map except that no elements may be added.

Channel types

A channel provides a mechanism for concurrently executing functions to communicate by sending and receiving values of a specified element type. The value of an uninitialized channel is nil.

ChannelType = ( “chan” | “chan” “<-” | “<-” “chan” ) ElementType . The optional <- operator specifies the channel direction, send or receive. If no direction is given, the channel is bidirectional. A channel may be constrained only to send or only to receive by conversion or assignment.

chan T // can be used to send and receive values of type T chan<- float64 // can only be used to send float64s <-chan int // can only be used to receive ints The <- operator associates with the leftmost chan possible:

chan<- chan int // same as chan<- (chan int) chan<- <-chan int // same as chan<- (<-chan int) <-chan <-chan int // same as <-chan (<-chan int) chan (<-chan int) A new, initialized channel value can be made using the built-in function make, which takes the channel type and an optional capacity as arguments:

make(chan int, 100) The capacity, in number of elements, sets the size of the buffer in the channel. If the capacity is zero or absent, the channel is unbuffered and communication succeeds only when both a sender and receiver are ready. Otherwise, the channel is buffered and communication succeeds without blocking if the buffer is not full (sends) or not empty (receives). A nil channel is never ready for communication.

A channel may be closed with the built-in function close. The multi-valued assignment form of the receive operator reports whether a received value was sent before the channel was closed.

A single channel may be used in send statements, receive operations, and calls to the built-in functions cap and len by any number of goroutines without further synchronization. Channels act as first-in-first-out queues. For example, if one goroutine sends values on a channel and a second goroutine receives them, the values are received in the order sent.