How to find the type of an object in Go?

Question

How do I find the type of an object in Go? In Python, I just use typeof to fetch the type of object. Similarly in Go, is there a way to implement the same ?

Here is the container from which I am iterating:

for e := dlist.Front(); e != nil; e = e.Next() {
    lines := e.Value
    fmt.Printf(reflect.TypeOf(lines))
}

I am not able to get the type of the object lines in this case which is an array of strings.

Answer 1

The Go reflection package has methods for inspecting the type of variables.

The following snippet will print out the reflection type of a string, integer and float.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
)

func main() {

    tst := "string"
    tst2 := 10
    tst3 := 1.2

    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(tst))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(tst2))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(tst3))

}

Output:

string
int
float64

see: http://play.golang.org/p/XQMcUVsOja to view it in action.

More documentation here: http://golang.org/pkg/reflect/#Type

Answer 2

I found 3 ways to return a variable's type at runtime:

Using string formatting

func typeof(v interface{}) string {
    return fmt.Sprintf("%T", v)
}

Using reflect package

func typeof(v interface{}) string {
    return reflect.TypeOf(v).String()
}

Using type switch

func typeof(v interface{}) string {
    switch v.(type) {
    case int:
        return "int"
    case float64:
        return "float64"
    //... etc
    default:
        return "unknown"
    }
}

Every method has a different best use case:

• string formatting - short and low footprint (not necessary to import reflect package)

• reflect package - when need more details about the type we have access to the full reflection capabilities

• type switch - allows grouping types, for example recognize all int32, int64, uint32, uint64 types as "int"

Answer 3

Use the reflect package:

Package reflect implements run-time reflection, allowing a program to manipulate objects with arbitrary types. The typical use is to take a value with static type interface{} and extract its dynamic type information by calling TypeOf, which returns a Type.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
)

func main() {
    b := true
    s := ""
    n := 1
    f := 1.0
    a := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}

    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(b))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(s))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(n))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(f))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(a))
}

Produces:

bool
string
int
float64
[]string

Playground

Example using ValueOf(i interface{}).Kind():

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
)

func main() {
    b := true
    s := ""
    n := 1
    f := 1.0
    a := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}

    fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(b).Kind())
    fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(s).Kind())
    fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(n).Kind())
    fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(f).Kind())
    fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(a).Index(0).Kind()) // For slices and strings
}

Produces:

bool
string
int
float64
string

Playground

Answer 4

To get a string representation:

From http://golang.org/pkg/fmt/

%T a Go-syntax representation of the type of the value

package main
import "fmt"
func main(){
    types := []interface{} {"a",6,6.0,true}
    for _,v := range types{
        fmt.Printf("%T\n",v)
    }
}

Outputs:

string
int
float64
bool

Answer 5

I would stay away from the reflect. package. Instead use %T

package main

import (
    "fmt"
)

func main() {
    b := true
    s := ""
    n := 1
    f := 1.0
    a := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}

    fmt.Printf("%T\n", b)
    fmt.Printf("%T\n", s)
    fmt.Printf("%T\n", n)
    fmt.Printf("%T\n", f)
    fmt.Printf("%T\n", a)
 }

Answer 6

Best way is using reflection concept in Google.
reflect.TypeOf gives type along with the package name
reflect.TypeOf().Kind() gives underlining type

Answer 7

To be short, please use fmt.Printf("%T", var1) or its other variants in the fmt package.

Answer 8

If we have this variables:

var counter int = 5
var message string  = "Hello"
var factor float32 = 4.2
var enabled bool = false

1: fmt.Printf %T format : to use this feature you should import "fmt"

fmt.Printf("%T \n",factor )   // factor type: float32

2: reflect.TypeOf function : to use this feature you should import "reflect"

fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(enabled)) // enabled type:  bool

3: reflect.ValueOf(X).Kind() : to use this feature you should import "reflect"

fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(counter).Kind()) // counter type:  int

Answer 9

To get the type of fields in struct

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "reflect"
)

type testObject struct {
  Name   string
  Age    int
  Height float64
}

func main() {
   tstObj := testObject{Name: "yog prakash", Age: 24, Height: 5.6}
   val := reflect.ValueOf(&tstObj).Elem()
   typeOfTstObj := val.Type()
   for i := 0; i < val.NumField(); i++ {
       fieldType := val.Field(i)
       fmt.Printf("object field %d key=%s value=%v type=%s \n",
          i, typeOfTstObj.Field(i).Name, fieldType.Interface(),
          fieldType.Type())
   }
}

Output

object field 0 key=Name value=yog prakash type=string 
object field 1 key=Age value=24 type=int 
object field 2 key=Height value=5.6 type=float64

See in IDE https://play.golang.org/p/bwIpYnBQiE

Answer 10

You can check the type of any variable/instance at runtime either using the "reflect" packages TypeOf function or by using fmt.Printf():

package main

import (
   "fmt"
   "reflect"
)

func main() {
    value1 := "Have a Good Day"
    value2 := 50
    value3 := 50.78

    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(value1 ))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(value2))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(value3))
    fmt.Printf("%T",value1)
    fmt.Printf("%T",value2)
    fmt.Printf("%T",value3)
}

Answer 11

You can use: interface{}..(type) as in this playground

package main
import "fmt"
func main(){
    types := []interface{} {"a",6,6.0,true}
    for _,v := range types{
        fmt.Printf("%T\n",v)
        switch v.(type) {
        case int:
           fmt.Printf("Twice %v is %v\n", v, v.(int) * 2)
        case string:
           fmt.Printf("%q is %v bytes long\n", v, len(v.(string)))
       default:
          fmt.Printf("I don't know about type %T!\n", v)
      }
    }
}

Answer 12

For arrays and slices use Type.Elem():

a := []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}
fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(a).Elem())

Answer 13

I have organized the following.

1. fmt %T : a Go-syntax representation of the type of the value
2. reflect.TypeOf.String()
3. reflect.TypeOf.Kind()
4. type assertions

Example

package _test

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
    "testing"
)

func TestType(t *testing.T) {
    type Person struct {
        name string
    }
    var i interface{}
    i = &Person{"Carson"}

    for idx, d := range []struct {
        actual   interface{}
        expected interface{}
    }{
        {fmt.Sprintf("%T", "Hello") == "string", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf("string").String() == "string", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf("string").Kind() == reflect.String, true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(10).String() == "int", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(10).Kind() == reflect.Int, true},
        {fmt.Sprintf("%T", 1.2) == "float64", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(1.2).String() == "float64", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(1.2).Kind() == reflect.Float64, true},
        {reflect.TypeOf([]byte{3}).String() == "[]uint8", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf([]byte{3}).Kind() == reflect.Slice, true},
        {reflect.TypeOf([]int8{3}).String() == "[]int8", true},
        {reflect.TypeOf([]int8{3}).Kind() == reflect.Slice, true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(Person{"carson"}).Kind() == reflect.Struct, true},
        {reflect.TypeOf(&Person{"carson"}).Kind() == reflect.Ptr, true},
        {fmt.Sprintf("%v", i.(*Person)) == "&{Carson}", true},
        {fmt.Sprintf("%+v", i.(*Person)) == "&{name:Carson}", true},
    } {
        if d.actual != d.expected {
            t.Fatalf("%d | %s", idx, d.actual)
        }
    }
}

go playground

Answer 14

In case if you want to detect the type within if expression:

if str, ok := myvar.(string); ok {
    print("It's a string")
}

Or without type assertion (may produce errors):

if reflect.TypeOf(myvar).String() == "string" {
    print("It's a string")
}

Answer 15

you can use reflect.TypeOf.

• basic type(e.g.: int, string): it will return its name (e.g.: int, string)
• struct: it will return something in the format <package name>.<struct name> (e.g.: main.test)

Answer 16

reflect package comes to rescue:

reflect.TypeOf(obj).String()

Check this demo