Go fmt

External

• https://pkg.go.dev/cmd/gofmt

Internal

• go Tool
• Go Source Code Formatting
• Go Style

Overview

gofmt is a program that operates at source file level.

go fmt operates at package level rather than source file level. go fmt delegates to gofmt, and it is equivalent to:

gofmt -l -w <file>

The tool formats source code files, by applying a predetermined layout, which includes a standard style of indentation and vertical alignment, and retains and if necessary reformats comments. For example, it lines up the fields of a structure and the associated comments. One counterintuitive fact is that it uses the tab character for indentation. This is uncommon.

Rob Pike: "gofmt style is no one's favorite, yet gofmt is everyone's favorite".