Go Slices

Internal

• Go Built-in Types
• Arrays

Overview

A slice is a reference type that implements a dynamic array. Slices are indexable, and they have a variable length. They are always associated with an underlying array, and the slice length cannot be longer than the underlying array - but it can be shorter. The slice's capacity is equal to the length on the underlying array.

TODO Deep difference between slice and array (memory model, etc.)

Declaration

A slice declaration is similar to an array's except the length is not specified. The slice is created with a zero length.

var s []int

Type inferred declaration, where the length and the capacity of the slice are specified can be performed using make().

The slices can also be created with the "slice" operator:

<array_identifier>[<low>:<high>]

Example:

var a [5]int
s := a[0:2]

The "low" index is the index where to start the slice and "high" is the index where to end the slice - but not index itself.

Slice Operators and Functions

make()

<slice_identifier> := make([]<slice_element_type>, <slice_length>, <capacity>)

s := make([]int, 5)
s1 := make([]int, 5, 10)

copy()

Slice built-in functions append(), copy().