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How to Use the Cobra Package in Go

How to Use the Cobra Package in Go
Hostman Team
Technical writer
Go
05.12.2024
Reading time: 12 min

A Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a type of application that runs exclusively in the command-line terminal.

Typically, such programs are used to manage various tools related to developing and maintaining network infrastructure.

The interaction process is simple:

  • The user types the name of the CLI application, the command name, parameters, and sometimes additional flags into the terminal.

  • The CLI application performs the requested action and sends a text response to the terminal.

CLI applications may seem outdated due to the lack of a graphical user interface (GUI), but they are still considered the most versatile, fast, and convenient way for system administration.

Creating CLIs with Go and Cobra

To create a CLI in Go, you can use a special package called Cobra, which is developed by third-party developers. It is built on top of the flag package (a command-line flag parser) from Go's standard library and provides a higher level of abstraction.

Cobra is a complete CLI platform for the Go language, consisting of two main components:

  1. A library for creating modern CLI applications.
  2. A CLI tool for quickly building applications based on standard (for Cobra) command handler files.

Cobra was originally developed by one of the Go team members, Steve Francia (spf13), for the Hugo project — a special framework for building websites. Over time, Cobra became one of the most popular packages in the Go community.

Features of Cobra

Cobra offers several simple features for building modern command-line interfaces. Additionally, Cobra includes a high-level controller to help organize the code for the CLI application being developed.

Cobra implements:

  • A command hierarchy
  • Powerful argument and flag parsing
  • Flag hierarchy (global and local)
  • Subcommand checking
  • POSIX compliance
  • Automatic help generation for commands and flags

In fact, large projects such as Kubernetes, Hugo, and CockroachDB are built on Go and use the Cobra package to handle commands.

CLI commands follow a fairly standard pattern:

{application} {command code} [arguments] [--flags and their parameters]

For example, commands in real projects might look like this:

kubectl get all -n kube-system

Or like this:

etcdctl put first second

Cobra Architecture

The working entities in Cobra can be divided into three types — each represents the structure of commands in the console terminal:

  1. Commands: These specify specific actions that need to be performed, much like in any classic CLI application.
  2. Arguments (Args): These are items or entities passed to a command, which the command works with and returns the result.
  3. Flags: Short modifiers for commands (i.e., specific actions) that make certain adjustments to the execution and affect the final result of the CLI application's operation.

A Little About POSIX Compatibility

The POSIX standard defines a pattern (scheme) for organizing arguments and flags that CLI applications should follow. This is the classic format that most developers are familiar with — numerous Linux utility programs (such as ls, cp, useradd) and third-party applications follow this convention.

It is important to remember that the command scheme is strictly formalized in the standard and looks as follows:

application_name [-a] [-b] [-c argument] [-d|-e]

Each application may have multiple versions of the same option — long and short forms. There is a clear rule that the short version must consist of only one character.

Step 1. Environment Setup

Checking Go

First, check whether the Go compiler is installed on your system. You can do this by running the version query command:

go version

If Go is installed, the console will display the Go version along with the operating system’s short name.

Creating the Project Directory

Next, create a separate directory for our Cobra project:

mkdir CobraProject

After that, navigate into it:

cd CobraProject

Golang has some peculiarities in its module system, which is necessary for connecting packages. Therefore, you need to initialize the project directory with a special command:

go mod init CobraProject

This will turn the directory into a full-fledged Go module, and the console will display a message about the creation of the module named CobraProject.

Step 2. Installing the Cobra Package

Downloading the Package from the Official Repository

Starting from Go 1.18, Go includes a special command go install, which automatically installs remote modules. Therefore, we will use it to download the Cobra package from the official GitHub repository:

go install github.com/spf13/cobra-cli@latest

Note that with the @latest tag we are installing the latest release.

Initializing the CLI

After installation, the executable file cobra-cli will be available in the terminal. We will use this tool to initialize the Cobra project in our working directory — at this point, you should already be in that directory:

cobra-cli init

Once executed, this will create several files in your working directory, containing the standard Cobra package code along with the project name CobraProject.

The file structure will look like this:

CobraProject/
     cmd/
          root.go
     main.go
     go.mod
     go.sum

The main.go file is the entry point for the CLI application. Its default content will look something like this:

package main

import (
    "CobraProject/cmd" // the path may vary depending on the location of the working directory
)

func main() {
    cmd.Execute()
}

All commands are placed as separate files in the /cmd directory.The root.go file is the root command handler — essentially the base command for any command-line interface.

For example, consider the following command:

go get URL

Here, go is the root command, which is handled by root.go, and get is a subcommand, whose handler is placed in a file different from root.go.

Building the CLI

To build the CLI application, you use the same command as for building any regular Go binary project:

go build

By default, the executable file will appear in the project’s working directory.

To make the built CLI application usable, you also need to install it:

go install

After this, the CLI application will be available for execution directly from the terminal. To use it, simply type the project name in the console:

CobraProject

If everything is set up correctly, the standard output for the command without any parameters will appear in the console. Of course, you can modify this standard output later in the root.go file.

Step 3. Creating a Function for the Command

Each command entered in the terminal calls a corresponding Go function, which executes the logic for that command. Any parameters and flags specified in the terminal are passed into the function.

As a simple example, we will implement a small function that displays the time in the current time zone. To do this, we will use the time package.

After initializing the CLI, the cmd directory should have been created in your working directory. Let's go to it:

cd cmd

Now, let's create a file that will contain our function:

touch timefunc.go

The code inside the file will look like this:

package cmd // specify the name of our package
import "time" // import the standard Go time package

func getTimeFromZone(zone string) (string, error) {
     loc, err := time.LoadLocation(zone) // get the current location

     // check for error
     if err != nil {
          return "", err // return an empty result with error details
     }

     timeNow := time.Now().In(loc) // get the current time based on the location
     return timeNow.Format(time.RFC1123), nil // return the formatted result without error details
}

As you can see, the function returns two values: the result and any error data. You can use it in the CLI to retrieve the time for a specified time zone.

Step 4. Adding a Command to the CLI

Now that the functional part of our application is ready, we can "register" the command in the CLI application for external access.

There is a separate add command for this:

cobra-cli add timefromzone

After running this command, a timefromzone.go file will appear in the cmd folder with the standard code inside.

In this same folder, you will also find the root.go file, responsible for the "root" command processing, i.e., the command without any parameters.

It’s easy to guess that the handlers for console commands are formed in the file system as separate Go source files.

Let’s open the newly created file and populate it with the following code:

package cmd

import (
    "fmt"
    "log"
    "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var timefromzoneCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "timefromzone",
    Short: "Returns the time from a given geographical zone",
    Long: `This command returns the time from a specified geographical zone. It accepts only one argument — the zone for which the time is required. The result is returned in the RFC1123 format.`,
    Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        timefromzone := args[0]

        timeNow, err := getTimeFromZone(timefromzone)

        if err != nil {
            log.Fatalln("Invalid time zone")
        }

        fmt.Println(timeNow)
    },
}

func init() {
    rootCmd.AddCommand(timefromzoneCmd) // add the new command to the root command
}

Let’s break down what each field means in the command definition:

  • Use: The name under which the command will be available in the terminal.
  • Short: A brief description of the command, which will be displayed to the user in the console.
  • Long: A full description of the command, which will be shown to the user in the console.
  • Args: The exact number of arguments required for the command to function.
  • Run: The handler function where we call and process the previously created getTimeFromZone function.

In some cases, you could simplify the code by writing the logic directly inside the command handler function, like this:

import "time"

var timefromzoneCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "timefromzone",
    Short: "Returns the time from a given geographical zone",
    Long: `This command returns the time from a specified geographical zone. It accepts only one argument — the zone for which the time is required. The result is returned in RFC1123 format.`,
    Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        zone := args[0]

        loc, err := time.LoadLocation(zone)

        if err != nil {
            log.Fatalln("Invalid time zone")
        }

        fmt.Println(time.Now().In(loc).Format(time.RFC1123))
    },
}

In this case, we directly implemented the logic for retrieving the time inside the Run function. If the time zone is invalid, an error message is logged.

Once the command is added, we just need to reinstall our CLI application:

go install

Now, we can use the application from the terminal by specifying the command name and passing the time zone code as an argument:

CobraProject timefromzone Europe/Nicosia

The console output will look something like this:

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 12:41:06 Europe/Nicosia

You can find a complete list of time zones and their codes in Wikipedia.

Step 5. Adding Flags to CLI

Typically, when running command-line applications, you can specify flags in addition to parameters. Flags are options that modify the behavior of a specific command. They are easily recognized by the preceding hyphen (or double hyphen).

The inclusion of flags in a CLI application adds variability and flexibility to the command behavior. Without flags, you would have to create many complex functions with a lot of redundant code. In this sense, flags help standardize the application.

Cobra has two types of flags:

  • Local flags: These only apply to the specific command.

  • Persistent flags: These can apply  to all commands and subcommands.

Let’s return to the timefromzone.go file and modify the initialization function to add a flag. The flag will specify the desired time format.

Here’s how you can add the flag to your command:

func init() {
    rootCmd.AddCommand(timefromzoneCmd) // Add the defined command to the root command
    timefromzoneCmd.Flags().String("format", "", "Outputs the time in the yyyy-mm-dd format") // Add a flag to the command
}

This adds a flag named --format, which specifies the time format.

Here is the complete updated file with flag handling:

package cmd

import (
    "fmt"
    "time"
    "github.com/spf13/cobra"
)

var timefromzoneCmd = &cobra.Command{
    Use:   "timefromzone",
    Short: "Returns the time from a given geographical zone",
    Long: `This command returns the time from a specified geographical zone. It accepts only one argument — the zone for which the time is required. The result is returned in RFC1123 format.`,
    Args: cobra.ExactArgs(1),
    Run: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) {
        var date string

        zone := args[0]

        loc, _ := time.LoadLocation(zone) // Load the location from the zone argument
        fla, _ := cmd.Flags().GetString("format") // Get the value of the 'format' flag

        if fla != "" {
            date = time.Now().In(loc).Format(fla) // If flag is provided, use custom format
        } else {
            date = time.Now().In(loc).Format(time.RFC1123) // Default format
        }

        fmt.Printf("Current time in timezone %v: %v\n", loc, date)
    },
}

func init() {
    rootCmd.AddCommand(timefromzoneCmd) // Add the timefromzone command to the root command
    timefromzoneCmd.Flags().String("format", "", "Outputs the time in the yyyy-mm-dd format") // Add the 'format' flag
}

Now, let's reinstall the updated CLI application:

go install

To use the new flag, run the command with the --format flag, like this:

CobraProject timefromzone Europe/Nicosia --format 2006-01-02

The output will be formatted according to the flag, like this:

Current time in timezone Europe/Nicosia: 2024-11-10

Here, the --format flag explicitly tells the command to display the time in the yyyy-mm-dd format, and the result will reflect this format.

Conclusion

The Cobra package for the Go programming language is an excellent solution that helps developers abstract away the complexities of low-level command-line parsing functions provided by the standard library.

Cobra is a kind of framework for CLI applications that alleviates the "headache" developers face when working with the command-line terminal, allowing them to focus more on business logic.

Each command is represented as a separate file in the /cmd directory, and you can modify it using flags. This is convenient because you can explicitly build a hierarchy of commands and control the process of handling them by editing hook functions like init or run.

This feature gives Cobra CLI applications a more structured layout and less clutter, forming a solid framework.

It’s important to note that third-party developers created Cobra, so it is hosted in a separate GitHub repository and is not part of the Go standard library.

Additionally, on the official Cobra website, you can find installation instructions and details about using the command-line parser.

On our cloud app platform you can deploy Golang apps, such as Beego and Gin.

Go
05.12.2024
Reading time: 12 min

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To open a connection to the database, the sql.Open function is used, which takes the connection string (connStr) and the driver name (postgres). The connection string specifies the username, database name, password, and host address: package main import ( "database/sql" "fmt" "log" _ "github.com/lib/pq" ) func main() { connStr := "user=golang dbname=db_for_golang password=Golanguserfordb0206$ host=47.45.249.146 sslmode=disable" db, err := sql.Open("postgres", connStr) if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } defer db.Close() err = db.Ping() if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } fmt.Println("Successfully connected to PostgreSQL!") } Compile and run: go run main.go If everything works correctly, the terminal will display the message Successfully connected to PostgreSQL! Now, let's look at an example of how to insert data into a table.  First, we need to create a table in the database. When using Hostman cloud databases, you can copy the PostgreSQL connection string displayed in the "Connections" section of the Hostman web interface. Make sure that the postgresql-client utility is installed on your device beforehand. Enter the psql shell and connect to the previously created database: \c db_for_golang Create a table named Cities with three fields — city_id, city_name, and city_population: CREATE TABLE Cities ( city_id INT PRIMARY KEY, city_name VARCHAR(45) NOT NULL, city_population INT NOT NULL); Grant full privileges to the created table for the user: GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON TABLE cities TO golang; The function db.Prepare is used to prepare data. It specifies the query for insertion in advance. To insert data, use the function stmt.Exec. In Go, it's common to use plain SQL without using the ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) approach. stmt, err := db.Prepare("INSERT INTO Cities(city_id, city_name, city_population) VALUES($1, $2, $3)") if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } defer stmt.Close() _, err = stmt.Exec(1, "Toronto", 279435) if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } fmt.Println("Data inserted successfully!") } If all works correctly, you will see: Data inserted successfully! Redis and Go To connect to Redis, you need to use the go-redis driver. Сreate a new directory: mkdir connect-to-redis && cd connect-to-redis Prepare the dependency file: go mod init golang-connect-redis And optimize them: go mod tidy Download the go-redis module: go get github.com/go-redis/redis/v8 To connect to Redis, use the redis.Options function to specify the address and port of the Redis server. Since Redis does not use authentication by default, you can leave the Password field empty and use the default database (database 0): package main import ( "context" "fmt" "log" "github.com/go-redis/redis/v8" ) func main() { rdb := redis.NewClient(&redis.Options{ Addr: "91.206.179.128:6379", Password: "", DB: 0, }) ctx := context.Background() _, err := rdb.Ping(ctx).Result() if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Couldn't connect to Redis: %v", err) } fmt.Println("Successfully connected to Redis!") } You should see the message «Successfully connected to Redis!» MongoDB and Go To work with MongoDB, we'll use the mongo driver. Create a new directory to store the project structure: mkdir connect-to-mongodb && cd connect-to-mongodb Initialize the dependency file: go mod init golang-connect-mongodb Download the mongo library: go get go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo Connect to MongoDB using the options.Client().ApplyURI method. It takes a connection string such as mongodb://91.206.179.29:27017, where 91.206.179.29 is the MongoDB server address and 27017 is the port for connecting to MongoDB. The options.Client().ApplyURI string is used only for specifying connection data. To check the connection status, you can use another function, client.Ping, which shows the success or failure of the connection: package main import ( "context" "fmt" "log" "time" "go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo" "go.mongodb.org/mongo-driver/mongo/options" ) func main() { clientOptions := options.Client().ApplyURI("mongodb://91.206.179.29:27017") client, err := mongo.Connect(context.TODO(), clientOptions) if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Couldn't connect to MongoDB server: %v", err) } fmt.Println("successfully connected to MongoDB!") ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second) defer cancel() err = client.Ping(ctx, nil) if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Could not ping MongoDB server: %v", err) } fmt.Println("Ping MongoDB server successfully!") } You should see the message: successfully connected to MongoDB!Ping MongoDB server successfully MongoDB uses collections to store data. You can create collections using the .Collection function.  Below, we will create a database called first-database and a collection called first-collection. The collection will have a new document, containing three keys: user-name, user-age, and user-email. collection := client.Database("first-database").Collection("first-collection") document := map[string]interface{}{ "user-name": "Alice", "user-age": 25, "user-email": "[email protected]", } insertResult, err := collection.InsertOne(ctx, document) if err != nil { log.Fatalf("Couldn't insert new document: %v", err) } fmt.Printf("Inserted new document with ID: %v\n", insertResult.InsertedID) if err := client.Disconnect(ctx); err != nil { log.Fatalf("Could not disconnect from MongoDB: %v", err) } fmt.Println("Disconnected from MongoDB!") } If successful, you will see the Inserted new document message with the document ID.  ClickHouse and Go To work with ClickHouse, use the clickhouse-go driver. Create a new directory to store the project files and navigate to it: clickhouse-connect && cd clickhouse-connect Create a go.mod file to store the dependencies: go mod init golang-connect-clickhouse Download the Clickhouse driver using the command: go get github.com/ClickHouse/clickhouse-go/v2 Create a new file named main.go, where you will specify the connection data to ClickHouse. package main import ( "database/sql" "log" "github.com/ClickHouse/clickhouse-go/v2" ) func main() { dsn := "tcp://localhost:9000?username=user1&password=PasswordForuser175465&database=new_db" db, err := sql.Open("clickhouse", dsn) if err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } defer db.Close() if err := db.Ping(); err != nil { log.Fatal(err) } log.Println("Connected to ClickHouse!") } Database Connection in JavaScript In JavaScript, all connections to external services are made using the Node.js platform. Make sure that you have Node.js and the npm package manager installed on your device. MySQL and JavaScript To work with MySQL, use the mysql2 driver. Create a directory where we will store the project files: mkdir js-mysql-connect && cd js-mysql-connect Initialize the project: npm init -y Install the mysql2 library: npm install mysql2 Use the following code to connect to MySQL: const mysql = require('mysql2'); const connection_to_mysql = mysql.createConnection({ host: 'localhost', user: 'root', password: 'PasswordForRoot74463', database: db1, }); connection_to_mysql.connect((err) => { if (err) { console.error('Error connecting to MySQL:', err.message); return; } console.log('Successfully connected to MySQL Server!'); connection_to_mysql.end((endErr) => { if (endErr) { console.error('Error closing the connection_to_mysql:', endErr.message); } else { console.log('Connection closed.'); } }); }); PostgreSQL and JavaScript Connecting to PostgreSQL is done using the pg library. Create a directory where we will store the project files: mkdir js-postgres-connect && cd js-postgres-connect Initialize the project: npm init -y Install the pg library: npm install pg To connect to PostgreSQL, first import the pg library. Then, create a constant where you specify variables for the database address, username, password, database name, and port. Use the new pg.Client class to pass the connection data. We will create a table called cities and add two records into it. To do this, we will use the queryDatabase function, which contains the SQL queries. const pg = require('pg'); const config = { postgresql_server_host: '91.206.179.29', postgresql_user: 'gen_user', postgresql_user_password: 'PasswordForGenUser56467$', postgresql_database_name: 'default_db', postgresql_database_port: 5432, }; const client = new pg.Client(config); client.connect(err => { if (err) throw err; else { queryDatabase(); } }); function queryDatabase() { const query = ` DROP TABLE IF EXISTS cities; CREATE TABLE cities (id serial PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(80), population INTEGER); INSERT INTO cities (name, population) VALUES ('Berlin', 3645000); INSERT INTO cities (name, population) VALUES ('Paris', 2161000); `; client .query(query) .then(() => { console.log('Table created successfully!'); client.end(console.log('Closed client connection')); }) .catch(err => console.log(err)) .then(() => { console.log('Finished execution, exiting now'); process.exit(); }); } Use this command to run the code: node connect-to-postgres.js Redis and JavaScript To work with Redis, use the ioredis library. Create a directory to store the project files: mkdir js-redis-connect && cd js-redis-connect Initialize the project: npm init -y Install the ioredis library: npm install ioredis To connect to Redis, import the ioredis library. Then create a constant named redis and specify the Redis server address. Inserting data, i.e., creating key-value objects, is done using an asynchronous function named setData, which takes two values — key and value, corresponding to the data format of the Redis system. const Redis = require('ioredis'); const redis = new Redis({ host: '91.206.179.29', port: 6379, password: 'UY+p8e?Kxmqqfa', }); async function setData(key, value) { try { await redis.set(key, value); console.log('Data successfully set'); } catch (error) { console.error('Error setting data:', error); } } async function getData(key) { try { const value = await redis.get(key); console.log('Data retrieved'); return value; } catch (error) { console.error('Error getting data:', error); } } (async () => { await redis.select(1); await setData('user', 'alex'); await getData('user'); redis.disconnect(); })(); Run: node connect-to-redis.js MongoDB and JavaScript To work with MongoDB, use the mongodb driver. Create a directory for storing the project files: mkdir js-mongodb-connect && cd js-mongodb-connect Initialize the project: npm init -y Install the mongodb library: npm install mongodb To connect to MongoDB, import the mongodb library. Specify the database address in the constant uri and pass the address into the MongoClient class. const { MongoClient } = require('mongodb'); const uri = "mongodb://91.206.179.29:27017"; const client = new MongoClient(uri, { useNewUrlParser: true, useUnifiedTopology: true }); async function connectToDatabase() { try { await client.connect(); console.log("Successfully connected to MongoDB!"); const database = client.db("myDatabase"); const collection = database.collection("myCollection"); const documents = await collection.find({}).toArray(); console.log("Documents found:", documents); } catch (error) { console.error("Error connecting to MongoDB:", error); } finally { await client.close(); console.log("Connection closed."); } } connectToDatabase(); ClickHouse and JavaScript To work with ClickHouse, use the clickhouse/client driver. Create a directory where we will store the project files: mkdir js-clickhouse-connect && cd js-clickhouse-connect Initialize the project: npm init -y Install the @clickhouse/client library: npm install @clickhouse/client To connect to ClickHouse, use the code below where we set the connection details and execute a simple SQL query that will return the first 10 records from the system table named system.tables: const { ClickHouse } = require('@clickhouse/client'); const client = new ClickHouse({ host: 'http://localhost:8123', username: 'default', password: 'PasswordforDefaultUser45435', database: 'default', }); async function connectAndQuery() { try { console.log('Successfully connected to ClickHouse Server!'); const rows = await client.query({ query: 'SELECT * FROM system.tables LIMIT 10', format: 'JSON', }).then((result) => result.json()); console.log('Query results:', rows); } catch (error) { console.error('Error Successfully connected to ClickHouse Server! or running the query:', error); } finally { console.log('Done.'); } } connectAndQuery(); Conclusion In today's article, we thoroughly explored how to connect to PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, MySQL, and ClickHouse databases using Python, Go, and JavaScript. These languages can be used to create both web applications and microservices that utilize databases in their operation.
18 February 2025 · 23 min to read
Go

Working with Date and Time in Go Using the time Package

Go (Golang), like many other programming languages, has a built-in time package that provides special types and methods for working with dates and times. You can find comprehensive information about the time package in the official documentation. This guide will cover the basic aspects of working with time in Go.  All the examples shown were run on a cloud server provided by Hostman, using the Ubuntu 22.04 operating system and Go version 1.21.3. It is assumed that you are already familiar with the basics of Go and know how to run scripts using the appropriate interpreter command: go run script.go Parsing, Formatting, and Creating Dates Before getting started with time manipulation, it's important to understand a key feature of time formatting in Go. In most programming languages, date and time formats are specified using special symbols, which are replaced by values representing day, month, year, hour, minute, and second. However, Go approaches this differently. Instead of special symbols, it uses default date and time values represented by an increasing sequence of numbers: 01-02-03-04-05-06 This sequence of numbers represents: 1st month of the year (January) 2nd day of the month 3rd hour in 12-hour format (p.m.) 4th minute in 12-hour format (p.m.) 5th second in 12-hour format (p.m.) 6th year of the 21st century Thus, this results in the following time format: January 2nd, 3:04:05 PM, 2006 Or in another form: 02.01.2006 03:04:05 PM It is important to remember that this value is nothing more than a regular increasing sequence of numbers without any special significance. Therefore, this date and time act as a predefined layout for working with any explicitly specified date and time values. For example, here’s an abstract (not Go-specific) pseudocode example: currentTime = time.now() console.write("Current date: ", currentTime.format("%D.%M.%Y")) console.write("Current time: ", currentTime.format("%H:%M")) console.write("Current date and time: ", currentTime.format("%D.%M.%Y %H:%M")) In our pseudo-console, this would produce the following pseudo-output: Current date: 26.11.2024 Current time: 14:05 Current date and time: 26.11.2024 14:05 This is how date and time formatting works in most programming languages. In Go, however, the pseudocode would look like this: currentTime = time.now() console.write("Current date: ", currentTime.format("02.01.2006")) console.write("Current time: ", currentTime.format("03:04")) console.write("Current date and time: ", currentTime.format("02.01.2006 03:04")) The console output would be similar: Current date: 26.11.2024 Current time: 14:05 Current date and time: 26.11.2024 14:05 Here, the standard template values for date and time are automatically replaced with the actual date and time values. Additionally, template values have certain variations. For instance, you can specify the month 01 as Jan. Thanks to this approach, Go allows templates to be defined in a more intuitive and human-readable way. Parsing Working with time in Go starts by explicitly specifying it. This can be done using the time parsing function: package main import ( "fmt" // package for console I/O "time" // package for working with time "reflect" // package for determining variable types ) func main() { timeLayout := "2006-01-02" // time layout template timeValue := "2024-11-16" // time value to be parsed timeVariable, err := time.Parse(timeLayout, timeValue) // parsing time value using the template if err != nil { panic(err) // handling possible parsing errors } fmt.Println(timeVariable) // output the parsed time variable to the console fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable)) // output the type of the time variable } When you run the script, the terminal will display the following output: 2024-11-16 00:00:00 +0000 UTC  time.Time Note that after parsing, a variable of type time.Time is created. This variable stores the parsed time value in its internal format. In the example shown, the time layout and value could be replaced with another equivalent format. func main() { timeLayout := "2006-Jan-02" timeValue:= "2024-Nov-16" ... The final result would remain the same. During parsing, an additional parameter can be specified to set the time zone, also known as the time offset or time zone: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { // Local timeLocation, err := time.LoadLocation("Local") if err != nil { panic(err) } timeVariable, err := time.ParseInLocation("2006-01-02 15:04", "2024-11-16 07:45", timeLocation) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Println("Local: ", timeVariable) // Asia/Bangkok timeLocation, err = time.LoadLocation("Asia/Bangkok") if err != nil { panic(err) } timeVariable, err = time.ParseInLocation("2006-01-02 15:04", "2024-11-16 07:45", timeLocation) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Println("Asia/Bangkok: ", timeVariable) // Europe/Nicosia timeLocation, err = time.LoadLocation("Europe/Nicosia") if err != nil { panic(err) } timeVariable, err = time.ParseInLocation("2006-01-02 15:04", "2024-11-16 07:45", timeLocation) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Println("Europe/Nicosia: ", timeVariable) } The console output of this script will be as follows: Local: 2024-11-16 07:45:00 +0000 UTC Asia/Bangkok: 2024-11-16 07:45:00 +0700 +07 Europe/Nicosia: 2024-11-16 07:45:00 +0300 EET Instead of explicitly creating a time zone variable, you can use a predefined constant: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { // time.LoadLocation("Local") timeLocation, err := time.LoadLocation("Local") if err != nil { panic(err) } timeVariable, err := time.ParseInLocation("2006-01-02 15:04", "2024-11-16 07:45", timeLocation) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Println(timeVariable) // time.Local timeVariable, err = time.ParseInLocation("2006-01-02 15:04", "2024-11-16 07:45", time.Local) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Println(timeVariable) } In this case, the complete date and time values in both variants will be identical. 2024-11-16 07:45:00 +0000 UTC2024-11-16 07:45:00 +0000 UTC You can find a complete list of available time zones in the so-called Time Zone Database (tz database). Time zone identifiers are specified using two region names separated by a slash. For example: Europe/Nicosia Asia/Dubai US/Alaska Formatting We can format an already created time variable to represent its value as a specific text string. Thus, a variable of type time.Time has built-in methods for converting date and time into a string type. package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeLayout := "2006-01-02 15:04:05" timeValue := "2024-11-15 12:45:20" timeVariable, err := time.Parse(timeLayout, timeValue) if err != nil { panic(err) } fmt.Print("\r", "DATE", "\r\n") fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("2006-01-02")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("01/02/06")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("01/02/2006")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("20060102")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("010206")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("January 02, 2006")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("02 January 2006")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("02-Jan-2006")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Jan-02-06")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Jan-02-2006")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("06")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Mon")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Monday")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Jan-06")) fmt.Print("\r", "TIME", "\r\n") fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("15:04")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("15:04:05")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("3:04 PM")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("03:04:05 PM")) fmt.Print("\r", "DATE and TIME", "\r\n") fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("2006-01-02T15:04:05")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("2 Jan 2006 15:04:05")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("2 Jan 2006 15:04")) fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format("Mon, 2 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST")) fmt.Print("\r", "PREDEFINED FORMATS", "\r\n") fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format(time.RFC1123)) // predefined format fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format(time.Kitchen)) // predefined format fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format(time.Stamp)) // predefined format fmt.Println(timeVariable.Format(time.DateOnly)) // predefined format } Running this script will output various possible date and time formats in the terminal: DATE 2024-11-15 11/15/24 11/15/2024 20241115 111524 November 15, 2024 15 November 2024 15-Nov-2024 Nov-15-24 Nov-15-2024 24 Fri Friday Nov-24 TIME 12:45 12:45:20 12:45 PM 12:45:20 PM DATE and TIME 2024-11-15T12:45:20 15 Nov 2024 12:45:20 15 Nov 2024 12:45 Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:45:20 UTC PREDEFINED FORMATS Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:45:20 UTC 12:45PM Nov 15 12:45:20 2024-11-15 Pay attention to the last few formats, which are predefined as constant values. These constants provide commonly used date and time formats in a convenient, ready-to-use form. You can find a complete list of these constants in the official documentation. time.Layout 01/02 03:04:05PM '06 -0700 time.ANSIC Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 2006 time.UnixDate Mon Jan _2 15:04:05 MST 2006 time.RubyDate Mon Jan 02 15:04:05 -0700 2006 time.RFC822 02 Jan 06 15:04 MST time.RFC822Z 02 Jan 06 15:04 -0700 time.RFC850 Monday, 02-Jan-06 15:04:05 MST time.RFC1123 Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST time.RFC1123Z Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 -0700 time.RFC3339 2006-01-02T15:04:05Z07:00 time.RFC3339Nano 2006-01-02T15:04:05.999999999Z07:00 time.Kitchen 3:04PM time.Stamp Jan _2 15:04:05 time.StampMilli Jan _2 15:04:05.000 time.StampMicro Jan _2 15:04:05.000000 time.StampNano Jan _2 15:04:05.000000000 time.DateTime 2006-01-02 15:04:05 time.DateOnly 2006-01-02 time.TimeOnly 15:04:05 Another common method to format date and time in Go is by converting it to Unix time.  package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { timeVariable := time.Unix(350, 50) // set Unix time to 350 seconds and 50 nanoseconds from January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 fmt.Println("Time:", timeVariable) // display time in UTC format timeUnix := timeVariable.Unix() timeUnixNano := timeVariable.UnixNano() fmt.Println("Time (UNIX, seconds):", timeUnix) // display time in Unix format (seconds) fmt.Println("Time (UNIX, nanoseconds):", timeUnixNano) // display time in Unix format (nanoseconds) fmt.Println("Time (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeUnix)) // display the variable type for Unix time } After running this script, the following output will appear in the terminal: Time: 1970-01-01 00:05:50.00000005 +0000 UTC Time (UNIX, seconds): 350 Time (UNIX, nanoseconds): 350000000050 Time (type): int64 Note that the variable created to store the Unix time value is of type int64, not time.Time. Thus, by using formatting, you can perform conversions between string-based time and Unix time and vice versa: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeString, _ := time.Parse("2006-01-02 15:04:05", "2024-11-15 12:45:20") fmt.Println(timeString.Unix()) timeUnix := time.Unix(12345, 50) fmt.Println(timeUnix.Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")) } The console output of this script will display the results of conversions to and from Unix time: 17316747201970-01-01 03:25:45 Creation In Go, there is a more straightforward way to create a time.Time variable by explicitly setting the date and time parameters: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeLocation, _ := time.LoadLocation("Europe/Vienna") // year, month, day, hour, minute, second, nanosecond, time zone timeVariable := time.Date(2024, 11, 20, 12, 30, 45, 50, timeLocation) fmt.Print(timeVariable) } After running this script, the following output will appear in the terminal: 2024-11-20 12:30:45.00000005 +0100 CET Current Date and Time In addition to manually setting arbitrary dates and times, you can set the current date and time: package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { timeNow := time.Now() fmt.Println(timeNow) fmt.Println(timeNow.Format(time.DateTime)) fmt.Println(timeNow.Unix()) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(timeNow)) } After running this script, the following output will appear in the terminal: 2024-11-27 17:08:18.195495127 +0000 UTC m=+0.000035621 2024-11-27 17:08:18 1732727298 time.Time As you can see, the time.Now() function creates the familiar time.Time variable, whose values can be formatted arbitrarily. Extracting Parameters The time.Time variable consists of several parameters that together form the date and time: Year Month Day Weekday Hour Minute Second Nanosecond Time zone Go provides a set of methods to extract and modify each of these parameters. Most often, you will need to retrieve specific parameters from an already created time variable: package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { timeLayout := "2006-01-02 15:04:05" timeValue := "2024-11-15 12:45:20" timeVariable, _ := time.Parse(timeLayout, timeValue) fmt.Println("Year:", timeVariable.Year()) fmt.Println("Month:", timeVariable.Month()) fmt.Println("Day:", timeVariable.Day()) fmt.Println("Weekday:", timeVariable.Weekday()) fmt.Println("Hour:", timeVariable.Hour()) fmt.Println("Minute:", timeVariable.Minute()) fmt.Println("Second:", timeVariable.Second()) fmt.Println("Nanosecond:", timeVariable.Nanosecond()) fmt.Println("Time zone:", timeVariable.Location()) fmt.Println("") fmt.Println("Year (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Year())) fmt.Println("Month (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Month())) fmt.Println("Day (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Day())) fmt.Println("Weekday (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Weekday())) fmt.Println("Hour (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Hour())) fmt.Println("Minute (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Minute())) fmt.Println("Second (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Second())) fmt.Println("Nanosecond (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Nanosecond())) fmt.Println("Time zone (type):", reflect.TypeOf(timeVariable.Location())) } The console output of this script will be: Year: 2024 Month: November Day: 15 Weekday: Friday Hour: 12 Minute: 45 Second: 20 Nanosecond: 0 Time zone: UTC Year (type): int Month (type): time.Month Day (type): int Weekday (type): time.Weekday Hour (type): int Minute (type): int Second (type): int Nanosecond (type): int Time zone (type): *time.Location Thus, you can individually retrieve specific information about the date and time without needing to format the output before displaying it in the console. Note the types of the retrieved variables — all of them have the int type except for a few: Month (time.Month) Weekday (time.Weekday) Time zone (*time.Location) The last one (time zone) is a pointer. Modification, Addition, and Subtraction Modification You cannot change the parameters of date and time directly in an already created time.Time variable. However, you can recreate the variable with updated values, thus changing the existing date and time: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeVariable := time.Now() fmt.Println(timeVariable) // year, month, day, hour, minute, second, nanosecond, time zone timeChanged := time.Date(timeVariable.Year(), timeVariable.Month(), timeVariable.Day(), timeVariable.Hour() + 14, timeVariable.Minute(), timeVariable.Second(), timeVariable.Nanosecond(), timeVariable.Location()) fmt.Println(timeChanged) } When running this script, the following output will appear: 2024-11-28 14:35:05.287957345 +0000 UTC m=+0.0000391312024-11-29 04:35:05.287957345 +0000 UTC In this example, 14 hours were added to the current time. This way, you can selectively update the time values in an existing time.Time variable. Change by Time Zone Sometimes, it is necessary to determine what the specified date and time will be in a different time zone. For this, Go provides a special method: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { locationFirst, _ := time.LoadLocation("Europe/Nicosia") timeFirst := time.Date(2000, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, locationFirst) fmt.Println("Time (Europe/Nicosia)", timeFirst) locationSecond, _ := time.LoadLocation("America/Chicago") timeSecond := timeFirst.In(locationSecond) // changing the time zone and converting the date and time based on it fmt.Println("Time (America/Chicago)", timeSecond) } The result of running the script will produce the following console output: Time (Europe/Nicosia) 2000-01-01 00:00:00 +0200 EET Time (America/Chicago) 1999-12-31 16:00:00 -0600 CST Thus, we obtain new date and time values, updated according to the newly specified time zone. Addition and Subtraction Go does not have separate methods for date and time addition. Instead, you can add time intervals to an already created time.Time variable: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { // current time timeVariable := time.Now() fmt.Println(timeVariable) // adding 5 days (24 hours * 5 days = 120 hours) timeChanged := timeVariable.Add(120 * time.Hour) fmt.Println(timeChanged) // subtracting 65 days (24 hours * 65 days = 1560 hours) timeChanged = timeVariable.Add(-1560 * time.Hour) fmt.Println(timeChanged) } Running this script will give the following output: 2024-12-05 08:42:01.927334604 +0000 UTC m=+0.000035141 2024-12-10 08:42:01.927334604 +0000 UTC m=+432000.000035141 2024-10-01 08:42:01.927334604 +0000 UTC m=-5615999.999964859 Note that when subtracting a sufficient number of days from the time.Time variable, the month is also modified. Also, the time.Hour variable actually has a special type, time.Duration: package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(time.Hour)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(120* time.Hour)) } The output after running the script will be: time.Durationtime.Duration However, modifying the date and time by adding or subtracting a large number of hours is not very clear. In some cases, it is better to use more advanced methods for changing the time: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeVariable := time.Now() fmt.Println(timeVariable) // year, month, day timeChanged := timeVariable.AddDate(3, 2, 1) fmt.Println(timeChanged) // day timeChanged = timeChanged.AddDate(0, 0, 15) fmt.Println(timeChanged) // year, month timeChanged = timeChanged.AddDate(5, 1, 0) fmt.Println(timeChanged) // -year, -day timeChanged = timeChanged.AddDate(-2, 0, -10) fmt.Println(timeChanged) } After running this script, the output will look like this: 2024-11-28 17:51:45.769245873 +0000 UTC m=+0.000024921 2028-01-29 17:51:45.769245873 +0000 UTC 2028-02-13 17:51:45.769245873 +0000 UTC 2033-03-13 17:51:45.769245873 +0000 UTC 2031-03-03 17:51:45.769245873 +0000 UTC Subtraction Unlike addition, Go has specialized methods for subtracting one time.Time variable from another. package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { timeFirst := time.Date(2024, 6, 14, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.Local) timeSecond := time.Date(2010, 3, 26, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.Local) timeDeltaSub := timeFirst.Sub(timeSecond) // timeFirst - timeSecond timeDeltaSince := time.Since(timeFirst) // time.Now() - timeFirst timeDeltaUntil := time.Until(timeFirst) // timeFirst - time.Now() fmt.Println("timeFirst - timeSecond =", timeDeltaSub) fmt.Println("time.Now() - timeFirst =", timeDeltaSince) fmt.Println("timeFirst - time.Now() =", timeDeltaUntil) fmt.Println("") fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(timeDeltaSub)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(timeDeltaSince)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(timeDeltaUntil)) } Console output: timeFirst - timeSecond = 124656h0m0s time.Now() - timeFirst = 4029h37m55.577746026s timeFirst - time.Now() = -4029h37m55.577746176s time.Duration time.Duration time.Duration As you can see, the result of the subtraction is the familiar time.Duration type variable. In fact, the main function for finding the difference is time.Time.Sub(), and the other two are just its derivatives: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeVariable := time.Date(2024, 6, 14, 0, 0, 0, 0, time.Local) fmt.Println(time.Now().Sub(timeVariable)) fmt.Println(time.Since(timeVariable)) fmt.Println("") fmt.Println(timeVariable.Sub(time.Now())) fmt.Println(time.Until(timeVariable)) } Console output: 4046h10m53.144212707s 4046h10m53.144254987s -4046h10m53.144261117s -4046h10m53.144267597s You can see that the results of these described functions are identical. time.Time.Since() = time.Now().Sub(timeVariable) time.Time.Until() = timeVariable.Sub(time.Now()) Time Durations Individual time intervals (durations) in the time package are represented as a special variable of type time.Duration. Unlike time.Time, they store not full date and time but time intervals. With durations, you can perform some basic operations that modify their time parameters. Parsing Durations A duration is explicitly defined using a string containing time parameters: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { // hours, minutes, seconds durationHMS, _ := time.ParseDuration("4h30m20s") fmt.Println("Duration (HMS):", durationHMS) // minutes, seconds durationMS, _ := time.ParseDuration("6m15s") fmt.Println("Duration (MS):", durationMS) // hours, minutes durationHM, _ := time.ParseDuration("2h45m") fmt.Println("Duration (HM):", durationHM) // hours, seconds durationHS, _ := time.ParseDuration("2h10s") fmt.Println("Duration (HS):", durationHS) // hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, nanoseconds durationFULL, _ := time.ParseDuration("6h50m40s30ms4µs3ns") fmt.Println("Full Duration:", durationFULL) } Output of the script: Duration (HMS): 4h30m20s Duration (MS): 6m15s Duration (HM): 2h45m0s Duration (HS): 2h0m10s Full Duration: 6h50m40.030004003s Note the last duration, which contains all possible time parameters in decreasing order of magnitude—hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, microseconds, and nanoseconds. During parsing, each parameter is specified using the following keywords: Hours — h Minutes — m Seconds — s Milliseconds — ms Microseconds — µs Nanoseconds — ns Moreover, the order of specifying duration parameters does not affect it: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { duration, _ := time.ParseDuration("7ms20s4h30m") fmt.Println("Duration:", duration) } Terminal output: Duration: 4h30m20.007s Formatting Durations In Go, we can represent the same duration in different units of measurement: package main import ( "fmt" "time" "reflect" ) func main() { duration, _ := time.ParseDuration("4h30m20s") fmt.Println("Duration:", duration) fmt.Println("") fmt.Println("In hours:", duration.Hours()) fmt.Println("In minutes:", duration.Minutes()) fmt.Println("In seconds:", duration.Seconds()) fmt.Println("In milliseconds:", duration.Milliseconds()) fmt.Println("In microseconds:", duration.Microseconds()) fmt.Println("In nanoseconds:", duration.Nanoseconds()) fmt.Println("") fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Hours())) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Minutes())) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Seconds())) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Milliseconds())) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Microseconds())) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(duration.Nanoseconds())) } Output of the script: Duration: 4h30m20s In hours: 4.5055555555555555 In minutes: 270.3333333333333 In seconds: 16220 In milliseconds: 16220000 In microseconds: 16220000000 In nanoseconds: 16220000000000 float64 float64 float64 int64 int64 int64 As you can see, the parameters for hours, minutes, and seconds are of type float64, while the rest are of type int. Conclusion This guide covered the basic functions for working with dates and times in the Go programming language, all of which are part of the built-in time package. Thus, Go allows you to: Format dates and times Convert dates and times Set time zones Extract specific date and time parameters Set specific date and time parameters Add and subtract dates and times Execute code based on specific time settings For more detailed information on working with the time package, refer to the official Go documentation. In addition, you can deploy Go applications (such as Beego and Gin) on our app platform.
28 January 2025 · 19 min to read
Go

Variables in Go

Variables are named values stored in specific areas of memory and used during program execution. Go (also known as Golang) is a statically typed programming language. This means that once a variable is declared, its type is fixed and cannot be changed. Variables can have various types, each with its own purpose and characteristics.Go provides several basic data types, which form the foundation of the language's logic: Integer Floating-point String Boolean Additionally, Go supports composite data types: Arrays Slices Structures Maps There are also several auxiliary types: Pointers Interfaces Besides these, Go (similar to C++) includes a Standard Library (std) containing many predefined types. You can find more detailed information about variable types in Go in a separate article. For instructions on installing Go on Linux, Windows, or macOS, refer to the Hostman guides.  All the code examples in this tutorial were tested using Go version 1.21.3. Compiling and Running Code All the code examples in this guide are run in separate files with the .go extension. First, create a new file: sudo nano example.go Next, fill it with code inside the main() function, including any necessary modules: package main import "fmt" func main() { // start of example var number int = 10 fmt.Println(number) // end of example } Then run the file: go run example.go Declaring a Variable There are different ways to declare a variable in Go before using it—ranging from a full form, explicitly specifying the parameters (or multiple parameters) of the variable, to a shorthand form that uses automatic type inference and initialization. The choice of declaration method depends on the context. However, it’s generally recommended to use the most concise and automatic form whenever possible, as this reduces the likelihood of programmer errors by shifting some of the responsibility to the language's interpreter. Using the var Keyword The most explicit way to declare a variable in Golang is by using the var keyword, followed by the variable name, type, and value: var some_variable int = 5 However, if the variable is initialized with a value, you can omit the explicit type: var some_variable = 5 You can also declare a variable without assigning a value, but in this case, you must specify the type: var some_variable intsome_variable = 5 In all of these examples: var — the keyword for declaring a variable some_variable — the variable's name int — the variable's type 5 — the variable's value For example, this is how you can declare string variables: var some_name string = "John" The following declaration will result in an error: // ERROR: no value or type specified during declarationvar some_namesome_name = "John" It’s important to note that type inference is only possible during the initial declaration of the variable when the interpreter allocates the appropriate amount of memory for its value. Short Form := Despite Go's strict static typing, it allows variables to be declared in a more concise form without explicitly specifying their parameters: some_variable := 5 In this case, the interpreter understands that it needs to automatically infer the variable type based on the assigned value. However, this shorthand declaration is only allowed inside a function (including main()); it cannot be used outside a function: package main // ERROR: short form declaration outside of a function some_variable := 5 func main() { // OK: short form declaration inside a function other_variable := 10 } It’s important to understand the distinction between declaring a variable (with initialization) and assigning a value to it: package main func main() { some_variable := 5 // this is declaration and initialization (colon is present) some_variable = 50 // this is assignment (no colon) other_variable = 7 // ERROR: this is assignment (no colon) to an undeclared variable } For example, you can declare (and initialize) several variables sequentially: age := 50 // variable of type int name := "John" // variable of type string occupation := "Just a guy" // variable of type string height := 190.5 // variable of type float32 You cannot use the := operator together with the var keyword. Doing so will result in an error: var someVariable int := 5 // ERRORvar someVariable := 5 // ERROR Excluding the var keyword but still explicitly specifying the type will still result in an error: someVariable int := 5 // ERROR Multiple Variables In Go, you can declare multiple variables in one line or block. For example, you can use the var keyword with a single type for all declared variables: var width, height, depth int = 100, 200, 300 You can also separate the declaration of variables and their assignment: var width, height, depth intwidth, height, depth = 100, 200, 300 If the variable types differ, the interpreter can automatically infer their types: var name, age, fired = "John", 50, false Similarly, you can use the short form for multiple variables: name, age, fired := "John", 50, false In this case, there is no var keyword, nor are the types of the variables specified. Another way to declare multiple variables is by using a block: var ( name string = "John" age int = 50 height float64 = 190 fired bool = false ) By the way, you can format block declarations using spaces in such a way that names, types, and values align in columns, improving code readability: var ( name string = "John" age int = 50 height float64 = 190.5 fired bool = false ) The block declaration has no particular utility significance. It’s just syntactic sugar that: Improves code readability by grouping important variables in one place. Improves code cleanliness by avoiding repeated use of the var keyword for each variable. Improves code maintainability by simplifying the search and modification of variable parameters. Thus, block declaration is justified only when you need to group several key variables, simplifying their visual perception in a code editor. No Initialization In Go, it is possible to create a variable without initializing it. In this case, the variable is assigned a zero value corresponding to the specified type: For int, float32, float64: 0, 0.0, 0.0 For bool: false For string: "" For pointers: nil We can demonstrate this behavior of Go regarding variable declaration and initialization in the following script: package main import "fmt" func main() { // Integer var numberInt int fmt.Println("Integer:", numberInt) // Floating-point number var numberFloat float32 fmt.Println("Floating-point number:", numberFloat) // String var text string fmt.Println("String:", text) // Boolean var condition bool fmt.Println("Boolean:", condition) // Array var array [5]int fmt.Println("Array:", array) // Slice var cut []int fmt.Println("Slice:", cut) // Struct type S struct { name string size int address string } var structure S fmt.Println("Struct:", structure) // Map var dictionary map[int]int fmt.Println("Map:", dictionary) // Pointer var pointer *int fmt.Println("Pointer:", pointer) } The console output will be as follows: Integer: 0 Floating-point number: 0 String: Boolean: false Array: [0 0 0 0 0] Slice: [] Struct: { 0} Map: map[] Pointer: <nil> As you can see, variables of different types are automatically initialized with zero (or empty) values wherever possible. Naming Conventions In Golang, variable names can either start with a Latin letter or an underscore (_): onething := 123 // OK Onething := 123 // OK _onething := 123 // OK __onething := 123 // OK 1thing := 123 // ERROR Additionally, variable names have a functional feature: names starting with an uppercase letter are visible in other packages, while names starting with a lowercase letter are not. There are also several universal naming conventions across programming languages, including Go: Snake Case Camel Case Pascal Case Kebab Case (not supported in Go) Snake Case In Snake Case, the variable name looks like this: some_random_variable := 123 // lowercaseSOME_RANDOM_VARIABLE := 123 // uppercase Camel Case In Camel Case, the variable name looks like this: someRandomVariable := 12 Pascal Case In Pascal Case, the variable name looks like this: SomeRandomVariable := 123 Kebab Case In Kebab Case, the variable name looks like this: // ERRORsome-random-variable := 123 // lowercaseSOME-RANDOM-VARIABLE := 123 // uppercase However, Go doesn't support the Kebab Case style due to the hyphen character, which is reserved for the subtraction operation. Example: Declaring Multiple Variables Let’s further explore all the aforementioned ways of declaring variables in Golang in this script example: package main import "fmt" func main() { // Explicit declaration with type specification var age int = 50 fmt.Println("Age:", age) // Explicit declaration with type inference var height = 190.5 fmt.Println("Height:", height) // Short declaration name := "John" fmt.Println("Name:", name) // Explicit declaration of multiple variables var width, depth int = 100, 200 fmt.Println("Width:", width, "Depth:", depth) // Explicit declaration without initialization var distance int fmt.Println("Distance:", distance) // Block declaration of multiple variables var ( occupation string = "Welder" category float32 = 3.4 license bool ) fmt.Println("Occupation:", occupation, "Category:", category, "License:", license) } The result of running this code will be the following output in the console: Age: 50 Height: 190.5 Name: John Width: 100 Depth: 200 Distance: 0 Occupation: Welder Category: 3.4 License: false The var keyword is required for explicit variable declaration, especially in the global scope. The := operator is used for short variable declarations, particularly within functions. The block () syntax is used for readable declaration of multiple variables. It's important to remember that Go emphasizes minimalism and concise syntax. Therefore, the most compact form of notation should be used wherever possible. This reduces errors and issues while maintaining the cleanliness and readability of the code. Variable Initialization Typically, when a variable is declared, it is manually initialized with a specific value. The initialization of different types has syntactic differences. Number Numerical variables are initialized by assigning a numerical value, which is syntactically simple: // int var someNumber int = 5 // float32 otherNumber := 10.0 A number can be initialized with another number: // int var someNumber int = 5 var otherNumber int = someNumber // int oneMoreNumber := someNumber String String variables are initialized by assigning a sequence of characters enclosed in double quotes: // stringvar someString string = "Some programmer was here" A string can also be initialized with another string: // string var someString string = "Some programmer was here" var otherString string = someString // string oneMoreString := someString Boolean Initializing boolean variables is similar to initializing numeric and string variables, except that the value used is the keyword true or false: // boolvar someBool bool = true Similarly, boolean variables can be initialized with other boolean variables: // bool var someBool bool = true var otherBool bool = someBool // bool oneMoreBool := someBool Array There are several ways to initialize an array. The simplest one is through sequential access to the elements: // array var languages [3]string languages[0] = "Golang" languages[1] = "Python" languages[2] = "Rust" A more complex method is using a composite literal. A composite literal is a compact syntax for initializing any composite (struct-like) type, which avoids assigning each element individually. Thus, the array can be initialized in one step: var languages = [3]string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} Or using the shorthand form: languages := [3]string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} You can also partially initialize array elements: // array size 5, but only 3 elements initialized languages := [5]string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} languages[3] = "Java" languages[4] = "C++" To make the initialization of a large array more readable, you can format it like this: languages := [5]string{ "Golang", "Python", "Rust", "Java", "C++", // the comma at the end is REQUIRED } By the way, an array can be initialized with another array, copying all of its elements: languages := [3]string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"}otherLanguages := languages It’s important to understand that copying an array also occurs when it is passed to a function: package main import "fmt" func change(languages [5]string) { for i := range languages { languages[i] = "[" + languages[i] + "]" } } func main() { languages := [5]string{ "Golang", "Python", "Rust", "Java", "C++", } change(languages) fmt.Println(languages) } The output in the console will be: [Golang Python Rust Java C++] Thus, only the copy of the array inside the change() function was modified, not the original array from the main() function. However, explicit initialization of an array with another array is possible only if both arrays have the same length and type: languages := [3]string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} var otherLanguages [3]string = languages // OK var oneMoreLanguages [4]string = languages // ERROR Additionally, in Go, you can create arrays from an arbitrary number of other arrays. You can initialize elements of such arrays both sequentially: var matrix [2][2]string matrix[0][0] = "a" matrix[0][1] = "b" matrix[1][0] = "c" matrix[1][1] = "d" Or using a composite literal: var matrix = [2][2][2]string{{{"a", "b"}, {"c", "d"}}, {{"e", "f"}, {"g", "h"}}} As shown, the second option takes up less space, but the syntax is more complex. Slice A slice is initialized the same way as an array: var languages = []string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} However, unlike an array, a slice can be initialized with another slice of arbitrary length: var languages = []string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"}var otherLanguages []string = languages Map Maps are initialized using a composite literal with the type of the key and value specified. The content is listed using commas and separated by a colon: var languages = map[string]string{"first": "Golang", "second": "Python", "third": "Rust"} You can also use the shorthand declaration and a more readable initialization format: languages := map[string]string{ "first": "Golang", "second": "Python", "third": "Rust", // the comma at the end is MANDATORY } However, initializing a map with another map does not copy the elements; instead, it makes them shared: package main import "fmt" func main() { languages := map[string]string{"first": "Golang", "second": "Python", "third": "Rust"} otherLanguages := languages fmt.Println(languages) fmt.Println(otherLanguages) otherLanguages["first"] = "C++" fmt.Println(languages) fmt.Println(otherLanguages) delete(otherLanguages, "second") fmt.Println(languages) fmt.Println(otherLanguages) } The console output of this example will be: map[first:Golang second:Python third:Rust] map[first:Golang second:Python third:Rust] map[first:C++ second:Python third:Rust] map[first:C++ second:Python third:Rust] map[first:C++ third:Rust] map[first:C++ third:Rust] Pointer Pointers can only be initialized with the address of a variable of the same type: var variable int = 15var pointer *int = &variable The ampersand (&) symbol is used to get the address of any variable: package main import "fmt" func main() { var variable int = 15 var pointer *int = &variable fmt.Println(pointer) } The console output of this example will look something like: 0xc000104040 You can also use shorthand notation to initialize pointers: variable := 15pointer := &variable To access the value stored at the address of a pointer, you need to dereference it using the asterisk (*): package main import "fmt" func main() { var variable int = 15 var pointer *int = &variable fmt.Println(*pointer) } In this case, the console output will show: 15 Thus, you can assign new values to a variable located at the address of the pointer: package main import "fmt" func main() { var variable int = 15 var pointer *int = &variable *pointer = 5 fmt.Println(*pointer) } The console will display: 5 Finally, a pointer can be initialized with an anonymous object in memory. This is done using the new() function, which returns the address of the allocated memory: variable := new(int)*variable = 15 You don't need to manually delete the allocated memory — the garbage collector automatically handles this. Structure A structure can be initialized either with explicitly specified values in order: type something struct { first string second int } var structure something = something{"John", 15} Or with explicitly specified values by key names: type something struct { first string second int } var structure something = something{second: 15, first: "John"} Alternatively, you can choose not to specify any values, which will automatically initialize all fields to their zero values: package main import "fmt" type something struct { first string second int } func main() { var structure something = something{} fmt.Println(structure) structure.first = "John" structure.second = 15 fmt.Println(structure) } In this case, the console output will be: { 0} {John 15} Branching Based on Variables Variables play a central role in branching. Different parts of the program's code are executed based on their values (conditions). if/else The most basic conditional construct is created using the if/else statements. Here's the simplest condition: a := 5 b := 10 if a < b { fmt.Println("A is less than B") } For example, you can use a simple condition to check a pointer: var pointer *int if pointer == nil { fmt.Println("No address") } A more complex form would look like this: a := 10 b := 5 if a < b { fmt.Println("A is less than B") } else { fmt.Println("A is greater than B") } You can create even more complex constructs by combining else and if: a := 10 b := 5 if a < b { fmt.Println("A is less than B") } else if a > b { fmt.Println("A is greater than B") } else { fmt.Println("A is equal to B") } Multiple if/else expressions can be used: a := 12 if a < 5 { fmt.Println("A is less than 5") } else if a < 10 { fmt.Println("A is less than 10") } else if a < 20 { fmt.Println("A is less than 20") } else { fmt.Println("A is in superposition") } switch Another way to branch is using the switch construct, where possible values of a variable are defined, and actions are performed if there's a match: a := 1 switch a { case 0: fmt.Println("A is 0") case 1: fmt.Println("A is 1") case 2: fmt.Println("A is 2") } The default section can be used to define an action that runs if no match occurs: a := 3 switch a { case 0: fmt.Println("A is 0") case 1: fmt.Println("A is 1") case 2: fmt.Println("A is 2") default: fmt.Println("A is in superposition") } You can also combine multiple possible matches into one section: a := 1 switch a { case 0, 1, 2: fmt.Println("A is either 0, 1, or 2") default: fmt.Println("A is in superposition") } Useful Functions Go has many utility functions for working with variables. In this guide, we'll cover just the basic ones. Environment Variables Go provides special system functions that allow you to set and get environment variables: package main import ( "fmt" "os" ) func main() { os.Setenv("SOMEVAR", "1") // Set an environment variable fmt.Println("SOMEVAR:", os.Getenv("SOMEVAR")) // Read an environment variable } Time Variables Often, the program logic requires measuring time. Go has a corresponding tool for this — the time type. Time is a broad topic by itself. To learn more about the time package, you can check the official documentation. This guide will show how to get the current time in different formats: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { fmt.Println("Current time:", time.Now()) fmt.Println("Current time (UTC):", time.Now().UTC()) fmt.Println("Current time (Unix):", time.Now().Unix()) } The console output will look something like this: Current time: 2009-11-10 23:00:00 +0000 UTC m=+0.000000001 Current time (UTC): 2009-11-10 23:00:00 +0000 UTC Current time (Unix): 1257894000 You can also specify specific time parameters: package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { timeNow := time.Now() fmt.Println("Full time:", timeNow) fmt.Println("Year:", timeNow.Year()) fmt.Println("Month:", timeNow.Month()) fmt.Println("Day:", timeNow.Day()) fmt.Println("Hour:", timeNow.Hour()) fmt.Println("Minutes:", timeNow.Minute()) fmt.Println("Seconds:", timeNow.Second()) } In this case, the console output will be: Full time: 2024-11-15 23:46:09.157929822 +0000 UTC m=+0.000031801 Year: 2024 Month: November Day: 15 Hour: 23 Minutes: 23 Seconds: 9 Adding and Removing Elements from a Slice You can add elements to slices: var languages = []string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} languages = append(languages, "Java", "C++") fmt.Println(languages) This will append "Java" and "C++" to the languages slice. You can also remove elements from slices: var languages = []string{"Golang", "Python", "Rust"} // Remove the 2nd element (index 1) n := 1 languages = append(languages[:n], languages[n+1:]...) fmt.Println(languages) In this example, the second element is removed from the languages slice using slice operators, which create a new sequence from parts of the original slice. Here’s an example of slicing a sequence: package main import "fmt" func main() { var sequence = []string{"One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five"} newSequence := sequence[1:4] // Elements from index 1 to 3 become the new slice fmt.Println(newSequence) } The output in the console will be: [Two Three Four] Checking the Type of a Variable You can check the type of a variable using the TypeOf() function from the reflect package: package main import ( "fmt" "reflect" // Package to determine the type ) func main() { variableString := "string" variableInt := 5 variableFloat64 := 1.5 variableBool := true fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(variableString)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(variableInt)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(variableFloat64)) fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(variableBool)) } The console output for this example will be: string int float64 bool Variables in Strings Often, you need to insert a variable into a string. There are several ways to do this: package main import "fmt" func main() { // METHOD 1 stringPre := "human-readable" stringEnd1 := fmt.Sprintf("This is a %s string", stringPre) fmt.Println(stringEnd1) // METHOD 2 stringEnd2 := "This is " + stringPre + " string" fmt.Println(stringEnd2) } The output in the console will be: This is a human-readable stringThis is a human-readable string You can also combine numeric variables with strings: package main import "fmt" func main() { name := "John" age := 50 fmt.Printf("Hi, my name is %v and I'm %v years old.\n", name, age) } The output will be: Hi, my name is John and I'm 50 years old. Conclusion Like in most other programming languages, variables in Go are essential for storing data. Since data types differ from each other, Golang variables have several basic types, each having a specific representation in the computer's memory. In this guide, we only covered the basic ways to work with variables. You can find more detailed (and comprehensive) information about types and their specifics in the official Golang documentation. Additionally, the official Go package manager catalog provides information on many useful modules available for import into your project. One such module is the Standard Library. Check out our app platform to deploy Go applications (such as Beego and Gin). 
27 January 2025 · 19 min to read

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