Golang Struct Examples: Types and Pointers

Create structs to store fields and methods together. Use the new keyword.

Struct. Pieces of data and behavior are related. An X coordinate should be stored near a Y one. A first name is paired with a last one.

With structs, we create new types that contain different fields and methods. Ints and strings can be stored in structs. We use the struct keyword.Built-Ins

An example. We specify the type Location struct. This has 3 fields and no methods. The x and y fields are both ints. And there is a bool that indicates validity.

Type: We use the type keyword before the name of the struct. The Location here is not an instance—it is something we must create with new.

New: In main, we see the syntax for creating an instance of struct type. New() is a built-in function.

X: Finally we assign the "x" field of the struct to a value. Then we read it and display it to the screen.

Golang program that uses struct, new built-in method package main import "fmt" type Location struct { x int y int valid bool } func main() { // Create a new Location struct instance. loc := new(Location) // Set a field and then print its value. loc.x = 10 fmt.Println(loc.x) } Output 10

Slice, struct pointers. This program reuses our Location struct. It specifies two fields of the struct on one line. And in main(), it creates a slice of struct pointers.

Empty slice: First we create an empty slice of structs. These are pointers—which are variables of a specific type.

Append: We create two Location structs with the new keyword. We use append to add these to our slice.

Finally: We loop over all indexes in our slice. We use fmt.Println to display the struct data to the console.

Golang program that uses slice of structs, pointer types package main import "fmt" type Location struct { x, y int valid bool } func main() { // Create empty slice of struct pointers. places := []*Location{} // Create struct and append it to the slice. loc := new(Location) loc.x = 10 loc.y = 20 loc.valid = true places = append(places, loc) // Create another struct. loc = new(Location) loc.x = 5 loc.y = 8 loc.valid = true places = append(places, loc) // Loop over all indexes in the slice. // ... Print all struct data. for i := range(places) { place := places[i] fmt.Println("Location:", place) } } Output Location: &{10 20 true} Location: &{5 8 true}

Map keys. A struct can be used as the key of a map. We create struct instances and use their values to assign map data. We access the value of a struct "m" with "*m" to add the key.map

First: We create 3 structs and add them all as keys in the "storage" map. The value for each is "true."

Then: We create 2 structs and use them to look up values in the map. We get the correct results.

Golang program that uses structs as map keys package main import "fmt" type Measure struct { size int unit string } func main() { // A map with struct keys. storage := map[Measure]bool{} // Add 3 structs as keys in the map. m := new(Measure) m.size = 10 m.unit = "centimeters" storage[*m] = true m = new(Measure) m.size = 20 m.unit = "feet" storage[*m] = true m = new(Measure) m.size = 10 m.unit = "decibels" storage[*m] = true // There are 3 keys in the map. fmt.Println("Map len", len(storage)) // Create structs to look up values in the map. key := new(Measure) key.size = 10 key.unit = "centimeters" v := storage[*key] fmt.Println("Result", key, v) key = new(Measure) key.size = 100 key.unit = "decibels" v = storage[*key] fmt.Println("Result", key, v) } Output Map len 3 Result &{10 centimeters} true Result &{100 decibels} false

Interface. With interfaces, we create abstractions that can be used to reference many types at once. This is confusing at first, but leads to clearer programs.Interface

A review. With structs, we combine fields and funcs. We can use slices and maps with structs to build more complex collections. This is powerful and intuitive.

The Dev Codes

.Net

.NET Array Dictionary List String 2D Async DataTable Dates DateTime Enum File For Foreach Format IEnumerable If IndexOf Lambda LINQ Parse Path Process Property Regex Replace Sort Split Static StringBuilder Substring Switch Tuple

Java

Core Array ArrayList HashMap String 2D Cast Character Console Deque Duplicates File For Format HashSet If IndexOf Lambda Math ParseInt Process Random Regex Replace Sort Split StringBuilder Substring Switch Vector While

TheDeveloperBlog.com

Golang Struct Examples: Types and Pointers

Related Links:

.Net

Java

Related Links