I am fairly new to Go. I have coded in JavaScript where I could do this:
var x = [];
x[0] = 1;
This would work fine. But in Go, I am trying to implement the same thing with Go syntax. But that doesn't help. I need to have a array with unspecified index number.
I did this:
var x []string
x[0] = "name"
How do I accomplish that?
When you type:
var x []string
You create a slice, which is similar to an array in Javascript. But unlike Javascript, a slice has a set length and capacity. In this case, you get a nil slice which has the length and capacity of 0.
A few examples of how you can do it:
x := []string{"name"} // Creates a slice with length 1
y := make([]string, 10) // Creates a slice with length 10
y[0] = "name" // Set the first index to "name". The remaining 9 will be ""
var z []string // Create an empty nil slice
z = append(z, "name") // Appends "name" to the slice, creating a new slice if required
More indepth reading about slices: Go slices usage and internals
In JavaScript arrays are dynamic in the sense that if you set the element of an array using an index which is greater than or equal to its length (current number of elements), the array will be automatically extended to have the required size to set the element (so the index you use will become the array's new length).
Arrays and slices in Go are not that dynamic. When setting elements of an array or slice, you use an index expression to designate the element you want to set. In Go you can only use index values that are in range, which means the index value must be 0 <= index < length.
In your code:
var x []string
x[0] = "name"
The first line declares a variable named x of type []string. This is a slice, and its value will be nil (the zero value of all slice types, because you did not provide an initialization value). It will have a length of 0, so the index value 0 is out of range as it is not less that the length.
If you know the length in advance, create your array or slice with that, e.g.:
var arr [3]string // An array with length of 3
var sli = make([]string, 3) // A slice with length of 3
After the above declarations, you can refer to (read or write) values at indicies 0, 1, and 2.
You may also use a composite literal to create and initialize the array or slice in one step, e.g.
var arr = [3]string{"one", "two", "three"} // Array
var sli = []string{"one", "two", "three"} // Slice
You can also use the builtin append() function to add a new element to the end of a slice. The append() function allocates a new, bigger array/slice under the hood if needed. You also need to assign the return value of append():
var x []string
x = append(x, "name")
If you want dynamic "arrays" similar to arrays of JavaScript, the map is a similar construct:
var x = map[int]string{}
x[0] = "name"
(But a map also needs initialization, in the above example I used a composite literal, but we could have also written var x = make(map[int]string).)
You may assign values to keys without having to declare the intent in prior. But know that maps are not slices or arrays, maps typically not hold values for contiguous ranges of index keys (but may do so), and maps do not maintain key or insertion order. See Why can't Go iterate maps in insertion order? for details.
Must read blog post about arrays and slices: Go Slices: usage and internals
Recommended questions / answers for a better understanding:
How do I initialize an array without using a for loop in Go?
How do I find the size of the array in go
Can you please use var x [length]string; (where length is size of the array you want) instead of var x []string; ?
In Go defining a variable like var x=[]int creates a slice of type integer. Slices are dynamic and when you want to add an integer to the slice, you have to append it like x = append(x, 1) (or x = append(x, 2, 3, 4) for multiple).
As srxf mentioned, have you done the Go tour? There is a page about slices.
I found out that the way to do it is through a dynamic array. Like this
type mytype struct {
a string
}
func main() {
a := []mytype{mytype{"name1"}}
a = append(a, mytype{"name 2"})
fmt.Println(a);
}
golang playground link: https://play.golang.org/p/owPHdQ6Y6e
