How to read an slice of like []interface{} in Go? - go

Question

I have something like this:
a := []interface{}{}
b := []interface{}{}
type S struct {
text string
}
s := S{"string"}
t := S{"string"}
a = append(a, s)
b = append(b, t)
a := append(a, b)
a
And now I want to read elements of a, or elements of elements.. but how?

Answer 1

What you want is called a type assertion. http://golang.org/ref/spec#Type_assertions
The simple example on that page is:
var x interface{} = 7 // x has dynamic type int and value 7
i := x.(int) // i has type int and value 7`
The other thing to note is that a type assertion returns a value called ok that is true if the assertion is successful. Here's a simple code example for your case:
a := []interface{}{}
b := []interface{}{}
type S struct {
text string
}
s := S{"string"}
t := S{"string"}
a = append(a, s)
b = append(b, t)
a = append(a, b)
assertedS,ok := a[0].(S)
if !ok { // If this is, in fact, not a value of type S, something is wrong
// error handling
}
fmt.Println(assertedS) // Should show you the same thing as printing s
assertedB,ok := a[1].([]interface{})
if !ok {
//...
}
assertedT,ok := assertedB[0].(S)
if !ok {
//...
}
fmt.Println(assertedT) // Should show you the same thing as printing t
If you don't know ahead of time which list element is what, you can iterate through it and use the "type switch". http://golang.org/ref/spec#Switch_statements
switch x.(type) {
// cases
}
Which allows you to perform conditional behavior based on what type the stored interface{} really is.
For instance, you might use
func ExtractSlice(a []interface{}) {
for _,x := range a {
switch i := x.(type) {
case S:
fmt.Println(i)
case []interface{}:
ExtractSlice(i) // Recursively unpacks b once it's found within a
}
}
}

Answer 2

Do you mean this?
a := []interface{}{}
b := []interface{}{}
type S struct {
text string
}
s := S{"string"}
t := S{"string"}
a = append(a, s)
b = append(b, t)
a = append(a, b)
for _, v := range a {
switch v.(type) {
case S:
fmt.Println("S", v)
default:
fmt.Println("Slice", v)
}
}

Answer 3

This code example may help:
package main
import "fmt"
func main() {
a := []interface{}{}
b := []interface{}{}
type S struct {
text string
}
s := S{"string s"}
t := S{"string t"}
a = append(a, s)
b = append(b, t)
a = append(a, b)
for _, v := range a {
fmt.Println(v)
}
}
but be aware that you've defined a and b as slices of interfaces. This means, that when you do a = append(a, b) you're putting the b slice after the existing a string in the a slice, and therefore when you range over a you get:
{string s} //interface of string
[{string t}] //slice of interface of string