Correct way to initialize empty slice

Question

To declare an empty slice, with a non-fixed size, is it better to do:

mySlice1 := make([]int, 0)

or:

mySlice2 := []int{}

Just wondering which one is the correct way.

Answer 1

The two alternative you gave are semantically identical, but using make([]int, 0) will result in an internal call to runtime.makeslice (Go 1.16).

You also have the option to leave it with a nil value:

var myslice []int

As written in the Golang.org blog:

a nil slice is functionally equivalent to a zero-length slice, even though it points to nothing. It has length zero and can be appended to, with allocation.

A nil slice will however json.Marshal() into "null" whereas an empty slice will marshal into "[]", as pointed out by @farwayer.

None of the above options will cause any allocation, as pointed out by @ArmanOrdookhani.

Answer 2

They are equivalent. See this code:

mySlice1 := make([]int, 0)
mySlice2 := []int{}
fmt.Println("mySlice1", cap(mySlice1))
fmt.Println("mySlice2", cap(mySlice2))

Output:

mySlice1 0
mySlice2 0

Both slices have 0 capacity which implies both slices have 0 length (cannot be greater than the capacity) which implies both slices have no elements. This means the 2 slices are identical in every aspect.

See similar questions:

What is the point of having nil slice and empty slice in golang?

nil slices vs non-nil slices vs empty slices in Go language

Answer 3

As an addition to @ANisus' answer...

below is some information from the "Go in action" book, which I think is worth mentioning:

Difference between nil & empty slices

If we think of a slice like this:

[pointer] [length] [capacity]

then:

nil slice:   [nil][0][0]
empty slice: [addr][0][0] // points to an address

nil slice

They’re useful when you want to represent a slice that doesn’t exist, such as when an exception occurs in a function that returns a slice.

// Create a nil slice of integers.
var slice []int

empty slice

Empty slices are useful when you want to represent an empty collection, such as when a database query returns zero results.

// Use make to create an empty slice of integers.
slice := make([]int, 0)

// Use a slice literal to create an empty slice of integers.
slice := []int{}

Regardless of whether you’re using a nil slice or an empty slice, the built-in functions append, len, and cap work the same.

---

Go playground example:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
)

func main() {

    var nil_slice []int
    var empty_slice = []int{}

    fmt.Println(nil_slice == nil, len(nil_slice), cap(nil_slice))
    fmt.Println(empty_slice == nil, len(empty_slice), cap(empty_slice))

}

prints:

true 0 0
false 0 0

Answer 4

Empty slice and nil slice are initialized differently in Go:

var nilSlice []int 
emptySlice1 := make([]int, 0)
emptySlice2 := []int{}

fmt.Println(nilSlice == nil)    // true
fmt.Println(emptySlice1 == nil) // false
fmt.Println(emptySlice2 == nil) // false

As for all three slices, len and cap are 0.

Answer 5

In addition to @ANisus' answer

When using the official Go MongoDb Driver, a nil slice will also marshal into "null" whereas an empty slice will marshal into "[]".

When using using the community supported MGO driver, both nil and empty slices will be marshalled into "[]".

Reference: https://jira.mongodb.org/browse/GODRIVER-971