Variadic Operator in Golang

Big words, which basically mean "many arguments"...

The variadic operator (...) allows functions to accept a variable number of arguments of the same type. It provides a flexible and convenient way to work with a varying number of inputs.

Syntax

The variadic operator is denoted by three dots (...) placed after the type of the parameter in a function signature. It can only be used for the final parameter of a function. The variadic parameter acts as a slice, allowing you to pass any number of values of the specified type.

func aFunction (values ...int) { 
    // Function body 
}

Variadic Function Call

When calling a variadic function, you can provide any number of arguments of the specified type. The variadic operator allows you to pass multiple values without explicitly creating a slice or specifying the number of arguments.

aFunc(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) // Passing multiple values 
aFunc() // Passing zero values 
aFunc(slice...) // Passing a slice of values

Accessing Variadic Arguments:

Inside the function, the variadic parameter is treated as a slice, allowing you to access individual values using indexing or iteration.

func printNumbers(numbers ...int) { 
    for _, num := range numbers { 
        fmt.Println(num) 
    } 
}
printNumbers(1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Empty Variadic Parameter

It is valid to call a variadic function without providing any arguments. In this case, the variadic parameter will be an empty slice.

func aFunc(values ...string) { 
    // Function body 
}
aFunc() // values will be an empty slice

Mixing Variadic and Regular Parameters

A function can have both variadic and regular parameters. Variadic parameters should be the last parameter in the function signature.

func greet(prefix string, names ...string) { 
    for _, name := range names { 
        fmt.Println(prefix, name) 
    } 
}
greet("Namaste", "Albus", "Bhavesh", "Ciara")
// Namaste Albus
// Namaste Bhavesh
// Namaste Ciara

Variadic Arguments with a Slice

If you have a slice and want to pass its values as variadic arguments, you can use the ... operator to unpack the slice.

numbers := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} 
aFunc(numbers...) 
// Unpacking the slice and passing as variadic arguments

Creating a Slice from Variadic Arguments

If you have a function that accepts variadic arguments and you want to convert those arguments into a slice, you can do so using the variadic... syntax.

func createSlice(values ...int) []int { 
    return values 
} 
numbers := createSlice(1, 2, 3, 4, 5) 
// numbers is a slice containing [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Mixing Variadic Arguments and Slices

You can pass variadic arguments along with regular slices as separate arguments to a function.

func aFunc(numbers ...int) { 
    // Function body 
}
func anotherFunc(slice []int, values ...int) { 
    // Function body 
}
numbers := []int{1, 2, 3} 
aFunc(4, 5, 6) // Variadic arguments 
anotherFunc(numbers, 7, 8, 9) // Slice and variadic arguments

Using the variadic operator with slices provides a convenient way to work with existing slices as variadic arguments. It eliminates the need to manually unpack the slice and allows for a more concise and expressive code. This feature enhances the flexibility and usability of variadic functions when working with slices in Go.

Conclusion

The variadic operator in Go allows us more flexibility in function design, enabling functions to accept a variable number of arguments. It simplifies the calling code for us by eliminating the need to manually create a slice or specify the number of arguments.

The most common, but unobvious use case of a variadic function is the (fmt.Printf) , we use for consoling. It is a function too, which takes in an indefinite amount of arguments. It blew my mind when I first made that connection. Hope you had that "aha" moment as well...

Dhawal Codes