What Does the Asterisk (*) Mean in Go Programming?

What Does the Asterisk Do in Go?

While exploring Go examples, you might have encountered the asterisk character (*) and wondered about its significance. This article will delve into the multifaceted roles of the asterisk in Go.

Pointee Types and Assignments

When placed before a type, such as *string, the asterisk denotes a pointer type. A pointer holds the memory address of another value.

In Go, assignment using the asterisk () indicates an indirect assignment. For instance, p = "ciao" assigns the value "ciao" to the location pointed to by the pointer p.

Pointer Dereferencing

The asterisk () can also be used to dereference a pointer. It retrieves the value stored at the memory address pointed to by the pointer. The expression p in the example retrieves the value "ciao" as if p were a string variable.

Reference Operator (Ampersand)

The ampersand (&) is used to create references or pointers. &v returns the pointer to the value of v. In the example, &s creates a pointer to the string "good bye."

To summarize, the asterisk in Go:

• Type syntax: Indicates a pointer type when placed before a type.
• Assignment: In assignments like *p = ..., it modifies the value pointed to by the pointer.
• Dereferencing: When used on a pointer (*v), it retrieves the value stored at the pointed-to memory address.

The ampersand (&) is used to obtain a pointer to a variable or field value.

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