The syntax is specified using Extended Backus-Naur Form (EBNF):
Production = production_name "=" [ Expression ] "." .
Expression = Alternative { "|" Alternative } .
Alternative = Term { Term } .
Term = production_name | token [ "…" token ] | Group | Option | Repetition .
Group = "(" Expression ")" .
Option = "[" Expression "]" .
Repetition = "{" Expression "}" .
Productions are expressions constructed from terms and the following operators, in increasing precedence:
| alternation
() grouping
[] option (0 or 1 times)
{} repetition (0 to n times)
Lower-case production names are used to identify lexical tokens. Non-terminals are in CamelCase. Lexical tokens are enclosed in double quotes "" or back quotes ``.
The form a … b represents the set of characters from a through b as alternatives. The horizontal ellipsis … is also used elsewhere in the spec to informally denote various enumerations or code snippets that are not further specified. The character … (as opposed to the three characters …) is not a token of the Go language.
Characters
newline = /* the Unicode code point U+000A */ .
unicode_char = /* an arbitrary Unicode code point except newline */ .
unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
unicode_digit = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Number, decimal digit" */ .
Letters and digits
letter = unicode_letter | "_" .
decimal_digit = "0" … "9" .
octal_digit = "0" … "7" .
hex_digit = "0" … "9" | "A" … "F" | "a" … "f" .
Identifiers
identifier = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .
Keywords
break default func interface select
case defer go map struct
chan else goto package switch
const fallthrough if range type
continue for import return var
Operators and Delimiters
& += &= && == != ( ) +
| -= |= || < <= [ ] -
^ *= ^= <- > >= { } *
/ << /= <<= ++ = := , ;
% >> %= >>= -- ! ... . :
&^ &^=
Integer literals
int_lit = decimal_lit | octal_lit | hex_lit .
decimal_lit = ( "1" … "9" ) { decimal_digit } .
octal_lit = "0" { octal_digit } .
hex_lit = "0" ( "x" | "X" ) hex_digit { hex_digit } .
Floating-point literals
float_lit = decimals "." [ decimals ] [ exponent ] |
decimals exponent |
"." decimals [ exponent ] .
decimals = decimal_digit { decimal_digit } .
exponent = ( "e" | "E" ) [ "+" | "-" ] decimals .
Imaginary literals
imaginary_lit = (decimals | float_lit) "i" .
Rune literals
\a U+0007 alert or bell
\b U+0008 backspace
\f U+000C form feed
\n U+000A line feed or newline
\r U+000D carriage return
\t U+0009 horizontal tab
\v U+000b vertical tab
\\ U+005c backslash
\' U+0027 single quote (valid escape only within rune literals)
\" U+0022 double quote (valid escape only within string literals)
rune_lit = "'" ( unicode_value | byte_value ) "'" .
unicode_value = unicode_char | little_u_value | big_u_value | escaped_char .
byte_value = octal_byte_value | hex_byte_value .
octal_byte_value = `\` octal_digit octal_digit octal_digit .
hex_byte_value = `\` "x" hex_digit hex_digit .
little_u_value = `\` "u" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
big_u_value = `\` "U" hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit
hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit hex_digit .
escaped_char = `\` ( "a" | "b" | "f" | "n" | "r" | "t" | "v" | `\` | "'" | `"` ) .
String literals
string_lit = raw_string_lit | interpreted_string_lit .
raw_string_lit = "`" { unicode_char | newline } "`" .
interpreted_string_lit = `"` { unicode_value | byte_value } `"` .
Types
Type = TypeName | TypeLit | "(" Type ")" .
TypeName = identifier | QualifiedIdent .
TypeLit = ArrayType | StructType | PointerType | FunctionType | InterfaceType |
SliceType | MapType | ChannelType .
Numeric types
uint8 the set of all unsigned 8-bit integers (0 to 255)
uint16 the set of all unsigned 16-bit integers (0 to 65535)
uint32 the set of all unsigned 32-bit integers (0 to 4294967295)
uint64 the set of all unsigned 64-bit integers (0 to 18446744073709551615)
int8 the set of all signed 8-bit integers (-128 to 127)
int16 the set of all signed 16-bit integers (-32768 to 32767)
int32 the set of all signed 32-bit integers (-2147483648 to 2147483647)
int64 the set of all signed 64-bit integers (-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807)
float32 the set of all IEEE-754 32-bit floating-point numbers
float64 the set of all IEEE-754 64-bit floating-point numbers
complex64 the set of all complex numbers with float32 real and imaginary parts
complex128 the set of all complex numbers with float64 real and imaginary parts
byte alias for uint8
rune alias for int32
uint either 32 or 64 bits
int same size as uint
uintptr an unsigned integer large enough to store the uninterpreted bits of a pointer value
Array types
ArrayType = "[" ArrayLength "]" ElementType .
ArrayLength = Expression .
ElementType = Type .
Slice types
SliceType = "[" "]" ElementType .
make([]T, length, capacity)
make([]int, 50, 100)
new([100]int)[0:50]
Struct types
StructType = "struct" "{" { FieldDecl ";" } "}" .
FieldDecl = (IdentifierList Type | AnonymousField) [ Tag ] .
AnonymousField = [ "*" ] TypeName .
Tag = string_lit .
Pointer types
PointerType = "*" BaseType .
BaseType = Type .
Function types
FunctionType = "func" Signature .
Signature = Parameters [ Result ] .
Result = Parameters | Type .
Parameters = "(" [ ParameterList [ "," ] ] ")" .
ParameterList = ParameterDecl { "," ParameterDecl } .
ParameterDecl = [ IdentifierList ] [ "..." ] Type .
Interface types
InterfaceType = "interface" "{" { MethodSpec ";" } "}" .
MethodSpec = MethodName Signature | InterfaceTypeName .
MethodName = identifier .
InterfaceTypeName = TypeName .
Map types
MapType = "map" "[" KeyType "]" ElementType .
KeyType = Type .
Channel types
ChannelType = ( "chan" | "chan" "<-" | "<-" "chan" ) ElementType .
chan T // can be used to send and receive values of type T
chan<- float64 // can only be used to send float64s
<-chan int // can only be used to receive ints
chan<- chan int // same as chan<- (chan int)
chan<- <-chan int // same as chan<- (<-chan int)
<-chan <-chan int // same as <-chan (<-chan int)
chan (<-chan int)
make(chan int, 100)
Type identity
Two types are either identical or different.
Two named types are identical if their type names originate in the same TypeSpec. A named and an unnamed type are always different. Two unnamed types are identical if the corresponding type literals are identical, that is, if they have the same literal structure and corresponding components have identical types. In detail:
Assignability
A value x is assignable to a variable of type T (“x is assignable to T”) in any of these cases:
Blocks
Block = "{" StatementList "}" .
StatementList = { Statement ";" } .
Declarations and scope
Declaration = ConstDecl | TypeDecl | VarDecl .
TopLevelDecl = Declaration | FunctionDecl | MethodDecl .
Predeclared identifiers
Types:
bool byte complex64 complex128 error float32 float64
int int8 int16 int32 int64 rune string
uint uint8 uint16 uint32 uint64 uintptr
Constants:
true false iota
Zero value:
nil
Functions:
append cap close complex copy delete imag len
make new panic print println real recover
Exported identifiers
An identifier may be exported to permit access to it from another package. An identifier is exported if both:
Uniqueness of identifiers
Given a set of identifiers, an identifier is called unique if it is different from every other in the set. Two identifiers are different if they are spelled differently, or if they appear in different packages and are not exported. Otherwise, they are the same.
Constant declarations
ConstDecl = "const" ( ConstSpec | "(" { ConstSpec ";" } ")" ) .
ConstSpec = IdentifierList [ [ Type ] "=" ExpressionList ] .
IdentifierList = identifier { "," identifier } .
ExpressionList = Expression { "," Expression } .
Iota Within a constant declaration, the predeclared identifier iota represents successive untyped integer constants. It is reset to 0 whenever the reserved word const appears in the source and increments after each ConstSpec. It can be used to construct a set of related constants:
const ( // iota is reset to 0
c0 = iota // c0 == 0
c1 = iota // c1 == 1
c2 = iota // c2 == 2
)
const ( // iota is reset to 0
a = 1 << iota // a == 1
b = 1 << iota // b == 2
c = 3 // c == 3 (iota is not used but still incremented)
d = 1 << iota // d == 8
)
const ( // iota is reset to 0
u = iota * 42 // u == 0 (untyped integer constant)
v float64 = iota * 42 // v == 42.0 (float64 constant)
w = iota * 42 // w == 84 (untyped integer constant)
)
const x = iota // x == 0 (iota has been reset)
const y = iota // y == 0 (iota has been reset)
const (
bit0, mask0 = 1 << iota, 1<<iota - 1 // bit0 == 1, mask0 == 0
bit1, mask1 // bit1 == 2, mask1 == 1
_, _ // skips iota == 2
bit3, mask3 // bit3 == 8, mask3 == 7
)
Type declarations
TypeDecl = "type" ( TypeSpec | "(" { TypeSpec ";" } ")" ) .
TypeSpec = identifier Type .
type IntArray [16]int
type (
Point struct{ x, y float64 }
Polar Point
)
type TreeNode struct {
left, right *TreeNode
value *Comparable
}
type Block interface {
BlockSize() int
Encrypt(src, dst []byte)
Decrypt(src, dst []byte)
}
The declared type does not inherit any methods bound to the existing type, but the method set of an interface type or of elements of a composite type remains unchanged:
// A Mutex is a data type with two methods, Lock and Unlock.
type Mutex struct { /* Mutex fields */ }
func (m *Mutex) Lock() { /* Lock implementation */ }
func (m *Mutex) Unlock() { /* Unlock implementation */ }
// NewMutex has the same composition as Mutex but its method set is empty.
type NewMutex Mutex
// The method set of the base type of PtrMutex remains unchanged,
// but the method set of PtrMutex is empty.
type PtrMutex *Mutex
// The method set of *PrintableMutex contains the methods
// Lock and Unlock bound to its anonymous field Mutex.
type PrintableMutex struct {
Mutex
}
// MyBlock is an interface type that has the same method set as Block.
type MyBlock Block
A type declaration may be used to define a different boolean, numeric, or string type and attach methods to it:
type TimeZone int
const (
EST TimeZone = -(5 + iota)
CST
MST
PST
)
func (tz TimeZone) String() string {
return fmt.Sprintf("GMT%+dh", tz)
}
Variable declarations
VarDecl = "var" ( VarSpec | "(" { VarSpec ";" } ")" ) .
VarSpec = IdentifierList ( Type [ "=" ExpressionList ] | "=" ExpressionList ) .
Short variable declarations
ShortVarDecl = IdentifierList ":=" ExpressionList .
It is shorthand for a regular variable declaration with initializer expressions but no types:
"var" IdentifierList = ExpressionList .
i, j := 0, 10
f := func() int { return 7 }
ch := make(chan int)
r, w := os.Pipe(fd) // os.Pipe() returns two values
_, y, _ := coord(p) // coord() returns three values; only interested in y coordinate
Unlike regular variable declarations, a short variable declaration may redeclare variables provided they were originally declared earlier in the same block (or the parameter lists if the block is the function body) with the same type, and at least one of the non-blank variables is new. As a consequence, redeclaration can only appear in a multi-variable short declaration. Redeclaration does not introduce a new variable; it just assigns a new value to the original.
field1, offset := nextField(str, 0)
field2, offset := nextField(str, offset) // redeclares offset
a, a := 1, 2 // illegal: double declaration of a or no new variable if a was declared elsewhere
Short variable declarations may appear only inside functions. In some contexts such as the initializers for “if”, “for”, or “switch” statements, they can be used to declare local temporary variables.
Function declarations
FunctionDecl = "func" FunctionName ( Function | Signature ) .
FunctionName = identifier .
Function = Signature FunctionBody .
FunctionBody = Block .
Method declarations
MethodDecl = "func" Receiver MethodName ( Function | Signature ) .
Receiver = Parameters .
Operands
Operand = Literal | OperandName | MethodExpr | "(" Expression ")" .
Literal = BasicLit | CompositeLit | FunctionLit .
BasicLit = int_lit | float_lit | imaginary_lit | rune_lit | string_lit .
OperandName = identifier | QualifiedIdent.
Qualified identifiers
QualifiedIdent = PackageName "." identifier .
Composite literals
CompositeLit = LiteralType LiteralValue .
LiteralType = StructType | ArrayType | "[" "..." "]" ElementType |
SliceType | MapType | TypeName .
LiteralValue = "{" [ ElementList [ "," ] ] "}" .
ElementList = KeyedElement { "," KeyedElement } .
KeyedElement = [ Key ":" ] Element .
Key = FieldName | Expression | LiteralValue .
FieldName = identifier .
Element = Expression | LiteralValue .
Function literals
FunctionLit = "func" Function .
Primary expressions
PrimaryExpr =
Operand |
Conversion |
PrimaryExpr Selector |
PrimaryExpr Index |
PrimaryExpr Slice |
PrimaryExpr TypeAssertion |
PrimaryExpr Arguments .
Selector = "." identifier .
Index = "[" Expression "]" .
Slice = "[" ( [ Expression ] ":" [ Expression ] ) |
( [ Expression ] ":" Expression ":" Expression )
"]" .
TypeAssertion = "." "(" Type ")" .
Arguments = "(" [ ( ExpressionList | Type [ "," ExpressionList ] ) [ "..." ] [ "," ] ] ")" .
Selectors
For a primary expression x that is not a package name, the selector expression
x.f
denotes the field or method f of the value x (or sometimes *x; see below). The identifier f is called the (field or method) selector; it must not be the blank identifier. The type of the selector expression is the type of f. If x is a package name, see the section on qualified identifiers.
A selector f may denote a field or method f of a type T, or it may refer to a field or method f of a nested anonymous field of T. The number of anonymous fields traversed to reach f is called its depth in T. The depth of a field or method f declared in T is zero. The depth of a field or method f declared in an anonymous field A in T is the depth of f in A plus one.
The following rules apply to selectors:
Method expressions
MethodExpr = ReceiverType "." MethodName .
ReceiverType = TypeName | "(" "*" TypeName ")" | "(" ReceiverType ")" .
Index expressions
a[x]
Slice expressions
a[low : high]
a[low : high : max]
Type assertions
x.(T)
Calls
f(a1, a2, … an)
Passing arguments to … parameters
Given the function and calls
func Greeting(prefix string, who ...string)
Greeting("nobody")
Greeting("hello:", "Joe", "Anna", "Eileen")
Given the slice s and call
s := []string{"James", "Jasmine"}
Greeting("goodbye:", s...)
Operators
Expression = UnaryExpr | Expression binary_op Expression .
UnaryExpr = PrimaryExpr | unary_op UnaryExpr .
binary_op = "||" | "&&" | rel_op | add_op | mul_op .
rel_op = "==" | "!=" | "<" | "<=" | ">" | ">=" .
add_op = "+" | "-" | "|" | "^" .
mul_op = "*" | "/" | "%" | "<<" | ">>" | "&" | "&^" .
unary_op = "+" | "-" | "!" | "^" | "*" | "&" | "<-" .
Operator precedence
Precedence Operator
5 * / % << >> & &^
4 + - | ^
3 == != < <= > >=
2 &&
1 ||
Arithmetic operators
+ sum integers, floats, complex values, strings
- difference integers, floats, complex values
* product integers, floats, complex values
/ quotient integers, floats, complex values
% remainder integers
& bitwise AND integers
| bitwise OR integers
^ bitwise XOR integers
&^ bit clear (AND NOT) integers
<< left shift integer << unsigned integer
>> right shift integer >> unsigned integer
Comparison operators
== equal
!= not equal
< less
<= less or equal
> greater
>= greater or equal
Logical operators
&& conditional AND p && q is "if p then q else false"
|| conditional OR p || q is "if p then true else q"
! NOT !p is "not p"
Address operators
&x
&a[f(2)]
&Point{2, 3}
*p
*pf(x)
var x *int = nil
*x // causes a run-time panic
&*x // causes a run-time panic
Receive operator
v1 := <-ch
v2 = <-ch
f(<-ch)
<-strobe // wait until clock pulse and discard received value
x, ok = <-ch
x, ok := <-ch
var x, ok = <-ch
Conversions
Conversion = Type "(" Expression [ "," ] ")" .
Statements
Statement =
Declaration | LabeledStmt | SimpleStmt |
GoStmt | ReturnStmt | BreakStmt | ContinueStmt | GotoStmt |
FallthroughStmt | Block | IfStmt | SwitchStmt | SelectStmt | ForStmt |
DeferStmt .
SimpleStmt = EmptyStmt | ExpressionStmt | SendStmt | IncDecStmt | Assignment | ShortVarDecl .
Empty statements
EmptyStmt = .
Labeled statements
LabeledStmt = Label ":" Statement .
Label = identifier .
Expression statements
ExpressionStmt = Expression .
The following built-in functions are not permitted in statement context:
append cap complex imag len make new real
unsafe.Alignof unsafe.Offsetof unsafe.Sizeof
Send statements
SendStmt = Channel "<-" Expression .
Channel = Expression .
IncDec statements
IncDecStmt = Expression ( "++" | "--" ) .
Assignments
Assignment = ExpressionList assign_op ExpressionList .
assign_op = [ add_op | mul_op ] "=" .
If statements
IfStmt = "if" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] Expression Block [ "else" ( IfStmt | Block ) ] .
Switch statements
SwitchStmt = ExprSwitchStmt | TypeSwitchStmt .
Expression switches
ExprSwitchStmt = "switch" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] [ Expression ] "{" { ExprCaseClause } "}" .
ExprCaseClause = ExprSwitchCase ":" StatementList .
ExprSwitchCase = "case" ExpressionList | "default" .
Type switches
switch x.(type) {
// cases
}
TypeSwitchStmt = "switch" [ SimpleStmt ";" ] TypeSwitchGuard "{" { TypeCaseClause } "}" .
TypeSwitchGuard = [ identifier ":=" ] PrimaryExpr "." "(" "type" ")" .
TypeCaseClause = TypeSwitchCase ":" StatementList .
TypeSwitchCase = "case" TypeList | "default" .
TypeList = Type { "," Type } .
For statements
ForStmt = "for" [ Condition | ForClause | RangeClause ] Block .
Condition = Expression .
ForClause = [ InitStmt ] ";" [ Condition ] ";" [ PostStmt ] .
InitStmt = SimpleStmt .
PostStmt = SimpleStmt .
RangeClause = [ ExpressionList "=" | IdentifierList ":=" ] "range" Expression .
Range expression 1st value 2nd value
array or slice a [n]E, *[n]E, or []E index i int a[i] E
string s string type index i int see below rune
map m map[K]V key k K m[k] V
channel c chan E, <-chan E element e E
Go statements
GoStmt = "go" Expression .
Select statements
SelectStmt = "select" "{" { CommClause } "}" .
CommClause = CommCase ":" StatementList .
CommCase = "case" ( SendStmt | RecvStmt ) | "default" .
RecvStmt = [ ExpressionList "=" | IdentifierList ":=" ] RecvExpr .
RecvExpr = Expression .
Return statements
ReturnStmt = "return" [ ExpressionList ] .
Break statements
BreakStmt = "break" [ Label ] .
Continue statements
ContinueStmt = "continue" [ Label ] .
Goto statements
GotoStmt = "goto" Label .
Fallthrough statements
FallthroughStmt = "fallthrough" .
Defer statements
DeferStmt = "defer" Expression .
Source file organization
SourceFile = PackageClause ";" { ImportDecl ";" } { TopLevelDecl ";" } .
Package clause
PackageClause = "package" PackageName .
PackageName = identifier .
Import declarations
ImportDecl = "import" ( ImportSpec | "(" { ImportSpec ";" } ")" ) .
ImportSpec = [ "." | PackageName ] ImportPath .
ImportPath = string_lit .
Import declaration Local name of Sin
import "lib/math" math.Sin
import m "lib/math" m.Sin
import . "lib/math" Sin
import _ "lib/math"
Size and alignment guarantees
For the numeric types, the following sizes are guaranteed:
type size in bytes
byte, uint8, int8 1
uint16, int16 2
uint32, int32, float32 4
uint64, int64, float64, complex64 8
complex128 16
The following minimal alignment properties are guaranteed:
A struct or array type has size zero if it contains no fields (or elements, respectively) that have a size greater than zero. Two distinct zero-size variables may have the same address in memory.
(Note: The Go Programming Language Specification is here )