Go
Go Basics - 7. Structs in Go
Updated:
In this article, we are going to explore how to work with structs in the Go programming language.
Structs
Structs are a data type in Go that allow you to create custom 'objects' to represent your data however you like. Since they are a typed collection of fields, they are incredibly flexible, because a struct can contain multiple different types. Whereas, a slice array or map must contain the same type.
You can think of structs as 'structured data.'
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Person struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
favoriteFoods []string
}
func main() {
robert := Person{
name: "Robert Guss",
age: 34,
occupation: "Developer",
favoriteFoods: []string{
"Sushi",
"Steak",
"Pasta",
},
}
fmt.Println(robert)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{Robert Guss 34 Developer [Sushi Steak Pasta]}
*/
To access or get data out of our struct we use the . syntax.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Person struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
favoriteFoods []string
}
func main() {
robert := Person{
name: "Robert Guss",
age: 34,
occupation: "Developer",
favoriteFoods: []string{
"Sushi",
"Steak",
"Pasta",
},
}
fmt.Println(robert.occupation)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
Developer
*/
When creating or instantiating our structs we can also use what is known as the 'positional syntax,' which saves us some keystrokes.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Person struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
favoriteFoods []string
}
func main() {
robert := Person{
"Robert Guss",
34,
"Developer",
[]string{
"Sushi",
"Steak",
"Pasta",
},
}
fmt.Println(robert)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{Robert Guss 34 Developer [Sushi Steak Pasta]}
*/
Even though this syntax is possible, it is recommended not to use it, as it is not clear what those values are. In this trivial example, it is not a big deal, but within the context of a larger Go program, it can be a maintenance nightmare. If, at some point, our original struct changes or a new type is added, the positional syntax causes the compile to throw errors and break our program.
Naming Conventions
Structs follow the same naming convention as variables in Go. Uppercase names are exported and lower case names will only be available within the package.
package main
type Person struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
favoriteFoods []string
}
func main() {
}
So in this example, the Person struct is exported, however, the fields are. So another package would see that there is a struct called Person, however, another package would not be able to access the fields of it. If you wanted to export the person struct and its fields, you would need to capitalize each field. Like so:
package main
type Person struct {
Name string
Age int
Occupation string
FavoriteFoods []string
}
func main() {
}
Anonymous structs
Structs can also be declared as anonymous structs, but they are not common. You most often see structs with names like in the examples above, i.e, Person. Typically, anonymous structs are used when a struct is short lived; meaning it is used very quickly and then thrown away.
Here is what an anonymous struct looks like.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func main() {
robert := struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
}{name: "Robert", age: 34, occupation: "Developer"}
fmt.Println(robert)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{Robert 34 Developer}
*/
Notice how the types are separated with a semi-colon ; instead of a comma , when declaring an anonymous struct.
Structs are passed by value
Structs are passed by value. Therefore, if you create a copy of one, and modify that copy, you won't alter the original; unlike maps or slices which are passed by reference.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func main() {
robert := struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
}{name: "Robert", age: 34, occupation: "Developer"}
john := robert
john.name = "John"
john.age = 50
john.occupation = "Lawyer"
fmt.Println(robert)
fmt.Println(john)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{Robert 34 Developer}
{John 50 Lawyer}
*/
We can alter the original by using a pointer like so:
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
func main() {
robert := struct {
name string
age int
occupation string
}{name: "Robert", age: 34, occupation: "Developer"}
john := &robert
john.name = "John"
john.age = 50
john.occupation = "Lawyer"
fmt.Println(robert)
fmt.Println(john)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{John 50 Lawyer}
&{John 50 Lawyer}
*/
Struct composition
Go does not have 'objects' like you would typically find in an OOP or Object Oriented Programming language. So there is no concept of inheritance. Instead, Go uses a method known as composition. Composition is where you compose structs together to create new structs. Combining structs in Go is also known as embedding.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Fruit struct {
Name string
Classification string
}
type Apple struct {
Fruit // 'embedding' the Fruit struct inside of the Apple struct
color string
flavor string
weight int
}
func main() {
a := Apple{}
a.Name = "Granny Smith"
a.color = "Green"
a.flavor = "Sour"
a.weight = 1
a.Classification = "Malus domestica"
fmt.Println(a)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{ {Granny Smith Malus domestica} Green Sour 1}
*/
It may look like the Apple struct is inheriting properties from the Fruit struct, however, that is not the case in Go. In a typical OOP language, we would say that an Apple is a Fruit. In Go, we say that the Apple has a Fruit. The Apple, in this case, is not a type of Fruit, it is still a type of Apple. The apple does not have any relationship to the Fruit other than the fact that it embeds it.
If we want to use the literal syntax when declaring our embedded structs the syntax is slightly different.
package main
import (
"fmt"
)
type Fruit struct {
Name string
Classification string
}
type Apple struct {
Fruit // 'embedding' the Fruit struct inside of the Apple struct
color string
flavor string
weight int
}
func main() {
a := Apple{
Fruit: Fruit{Name: "Granny Smith", Classification: "Malus domestica"},
color: "green",
flavor: "sour",
weight: 1,
}
fmt.Println(a)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
{ {Granny Smith Malus domestica} green sour 1}
*/
Tags
Tags are a way to add additional data to your fields on a struct. Let's look at an example.
package main
type Fruit struct {
Name string `required:"true" max:"100"` // tag
Classification string
}
func main() {
}
Let's say that for this example, I want to make sure that the name of a Fruit is required, and it cannot exceed a maximum length of 100 characters. This is handy if a user is filling out a form in a web application to provide this information. The tag contains the validation info for the field.
Tags are basically meta data fields.
To get access to the tag information, we need to use the reflect package in Go.
package main
import (
"fmt"
"reflect"
)
type Fruit struct {
Name string `required:"true" max:"100"` // tag
Classification string
}
func main() {
t := reflect.TypeOf(Fruit{})
field, _ := t.FieldByName("Name")
fmt.Println(field.Tag)
}
/*
The result of the code above is:
required:"true" max:"100"
*/
_**In case you are wondering what the _ underscore symbol means a.k.a the Blank Identifier, it essentially tells the Go compiler that we are expecting a value here, but we don't care about it, so throw it away.**_
You can read more about it here: What is Blank Identifier(underscore) in Golang?
Wrap Up
In this article, we learned how to create and work with structs in go.