Go Variable Naming Rules (2024)

FAQs

Go Variable Naming Rules? ›

A variable name cannot start with a digit. A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters and underscores ( a-z, A-Z , 0-9 , and _ ) Variable names are case-sensitive (age, Age and AGE are three different variables) There is no limit on the length of the variable name.

Go package names should be short and contain only lowercase letters. A package name composed of multiple words should be left unbroken in all lowercase. For example, the package tabwriter is not named tabWriter , TabWriter , or tab_writer .

Golang is one of the few that has stepped back and doesn't use snake_case and uses camelCase instead.

Specifically, spaces are not permitted in the variable names, as variable name must be a single word. Variable name may not start with a digit or underscore, and may not end with an underscore. Double underscores are not permitted in variable name.

But if you read it carefully, they said they prefer those short names especially for local variables with limited scope. You don't need to go through the whole code to find their meaning, just through the current scope/code block. Variable names in Go should be short rather than long.

What is the underscore in Golang variable name? ›

_(underscore) in Golang is known as the Blank Identifier. Identifiers are the user-defined name of the program components used for the identification purpose. Golang has a special feature to define and use the unused variable using Blank Identifier.

Package vs Module

A package is a directory of .go files, and it is the basic building block of a Go program. Packages help to organize code into reusable components. On the other side, a module is a collection of packages with built-in dependencies and versioning. A module comes with two additional files go.

Naming Conventions for Name of a Type

“ViewModel” is simply added to a “Page”-suffixed name to yield the name of its ViewModel. However, only “Model” is added to a “View”-suffixed name to yield the name of its companion ViewModel.

The choice of a variable name should be mnemonic — that is, designed to indicate to the casual observer the intent of its use. One-character variable names should be avoided except for temporary "throwaway" variables. Common names for temporary variables are i, j, k, m, and n for integers; c, d, and e for characters.