Mastering Pointers in Go: A Beginner’s Guide Discover how pointers work in Go, including memory addresses, pointer variables, and dereferencing. Learn through examples and FAQs.

Unlocking the Power of Pointers in Go

Memory Addresses: The Foundation of Pointers

When you create a variable in Go, a memory address is allocated to store its value. This memory address is the key to understanding pointers. You can access this address using the & operator, as shown in the example below:


num := 5
fmt.Println(&num) // prints the memory address of num


Introducing Pointer Variables

In Go, pointer variables store memory addresses. You can create a pointer variable using the * operator, followed by the type of variable it points to. For example:


ptr := *int // ptr is a pointer variable of type int


Assigning Memory Addresses to Pointers

You can assign the memory address of a variable to a pointer variable. This allows you to access and modify the value stored at that address.


name := "John"
ptr := &name // ptr stores the memory address of name
fmt.Println(ptr) // prints the memory address of name


Accessing Values Through Pointers

To access the value stored at the memory address pointed by a pointer, you use the * operator. This is called dereferencing.


fmt.Println(*ptr) // prints "John"


How Pointers Work in Go

Let’s explore a working example of pointers:


var ptr *int
var num int
ptr = &num // ptr stores the memory address of num
num = 22 // assign a value to num
*ptr = 2 // change the value at the memory address pointed by ptr


Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the default value of a pointer variable?
  • The default value of a pointer variable is always nil when it’s not initialized.
• Can you create pointers using the new() function?
  • Yes, you can create pointers using the new() function, like this: var ptr = new(int).
• Can you create a pointer variable without using the * operator?
  • Yes, you can create a pointer variable without using the * operator, like this: ptr := &name.