Go Language Identifier

In programming languages, identifiers are used to identify purposes. In other words, identifiers are user-defined names for program components. In Go, identifiers can be variable names, function names, constants, statement labels, package names, or types.

Example:

package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
　var name = "w3codebox"
　　
}

In the above example, there are three identifiers:

• main:Package names

• main:Function names

• name:Variable names

Rules for defining identifiers:There are some valid rules for defining Go identifiers. These rules should be followed; otherwise, we will get a compile-time error.

• The name of an identifier must start with a letter or an underscore (_), and may contain the letter "a-z" or "A-Z" or the digit 0-9as well as the character " _".

• Identifier names cannot start with a number.

• Identifier names are case-sensitive.

• Keywords cannot be used as identifier names.

• The length of an identifier name is not limited, but it is recommended to use only4to15the best length for a letter.

Example:

//　Valid identifiers:
_geeks23
geeks
gek23sd
Geeks
geeKs
geeks_geeks
//　Invalid identifiers:
212geeks
if
default

Note:

• In Go, there are some predefined identifiers that can be used for constants, types, and functions. These names are not reserved, and you can use them in declarations. Here is a list of predefined identifiers:

  Constants:
  true, false, iota, nil
  Type:
  int, int8, int,16, int,32, int,64, uint,
  uint,8, uint,16, uint,32, uint,64, uintptr,
  float32, float64, complex128, complex64,
  bool, byte, rune, string, error
  Function:
  make, len, cap, new, append, copy, close,　
  delete, complex, real, imag, panic, recover

• An identifier represented by the underscore character (_) is called a blank identifier. It is used as an anonymous placeholder rather than a regular identifier and has special meaning in declarations, operands, and assignments.

• Identifiers that are allowed to be accessed from another package are called exported identifiers. Exported identifiers are those that meet the following conditions:

• The first character of the name of an exported identifier should be a Unicode uppercase letter.

• Identifiers should be declared in a package block, or they can be variable names or method names.

• The uniqueness of an identifier means that it is unique among the set of identifiers available in a program or package and will not be exported.