What is the Go Equivalent of a C Void Pointer?

Go Equivalent of a Void Pointer in C

In Go, the concept of a void pointer in C is replaced by the empty interface, denoted as interface{}. This interface represents the set of all (non-interface) types. It allows you to store any type of value without having to specify the specific type.

To use the empty interface, simply declare a variable of type interface{}:

var value interface{}

This variable can then hold any value of any type:

value = 42
value = "Hello, world!"
value = struct{ name string }{name: "John"}

You can access the value stored in an empty interface using type assertions:

if x, ok := value.(int); ok {
    // x is an int
} else if y, ok := value.(string); ok {
    // y is a string
}

Update (2023-09-27):

Starting in Go 1.18, the any type is introduced as an alias for interface{}. It provides the same functionality as the empty interface, but it is more concise and easier to read.

var value any

value = 42
value = "Hello, world!"
value = struct{ name string }{name: "John"}

The above is the detailed content of What is the Go Equivalent of a C Void Pointer?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!