How to fix linter warning `Error return value is not checked`?

Question

I'm calling the method with error type value (foo() in code example). I don't care this result. What's the rigth code style way to write? Errcheck linter makes me check this error.

//for example, same method may be called from imported entity
func foo() error {
   if err := someFunction(); err != nil {
       return err
   }
   return nil
}

func process() {
   //linter doesn't like this
   foo()

   //this way leads to unused variable error
   err := foo()

   //is this clean way?
   _ = foo()

  return 
}

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 14 '19 at 13:54

Yes, assigning it to a wildcard variable would be a good way to ignore the error. But the whole practice (of ignoring errors) is strongly discouraged. Here's what "Effective Go" has to say about this:

Occasionally you'll see code that discards the error value in order to ignore the error; this is terrible practice. Always check error returns; they're provided for a reason.
   // Bad! This code will crash if path does not exist.
    fi, _ := os.Stat(path)
    if fi.IsDir() {
        fmt.Printf("%s is a directory\n", path)
    }

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 14 '19 at 13:54

9

This is the idiomatic way:

err := foo()
if err != nil {
  // handle your error here
}

You should not omit a possible error. Log it or print it to stdout, but do not ignore it.

answered Feb 14 '19 at 13:54

apxp

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 14 '19 at 15:10

0

Ideally you should handle the error but if it annoys you, you could turn off the linter, in goland (which you should be using anyway):

answered Feb 14 '19 at 15:10

s952163

6,276
4
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How to fix linter warning `Error return value is not checked`?

3 Answers3