Basic Types

str := "Hello"

Multiline string

str := `Multiline
string`

This shows regular strings and raw multiline strings. Raw strings are handy when you want to keep formatting as written.

Typical types

num := 3          // int
num := 3.         // float64
num := 3 + 4i     // complex128
num := byte('a')  // byte (alias for uint8)

Other Types

var u uint = 7        // uint (unsigned)
var p float32 = 22.7  // 32-bit float

Go keeps numeric types explicit. The examples show the common defaults plus a few typed variants when precision or size matters.

// var numbers [5]int
numbers := [...]int{0, 0, 0, 0, 0}

This creates a fixed-size array. In day-to-day Go, slices are more common, but arrays are the underlying fixed-length value.

func main () {
  b := *getPointer()
  fmt.Println("Value is", b)

func getPointer () (myPointer *int) {
  a := 234
  return &a

a := new(int)
*a = 234

Pointers point to a memory location of a variable. Go is fully garbage-collected.

Pointers let you work with the same value across functions without copying it. Go keeps them simpler than C by handling memory cleanup for you.

i := 2
f := float64(i)
u := uint(i)

Go does not do many implicit numeric conversions, so converting types directly like this is normal.

slice := []int{2, 3, 4}

slice := []byte("Hello")

Slices are the main sequence type in Go. They are lightweight views over array-backed data and are used much more than arrays.