Go Print Statement

We use these three functions to print output messages in Go programming.

• fmt.Print()
• fmt.Println()
• fmt.Printf()

Note: All these functions are defined under the fmt package. So, we must import the fmt package before we can use these functions.

Go fmt.Print()

Let's take an example.

// Program to illustrate fmt.Print() 

package main

// import fmt package
import "fmt"

func main() {

  fmt.Print("Hello, ")
  fmt.Print("World!")

}

Output

Hello World!

Here, the fmt.Print() function prints the content inside parentheses ().

Print Variables

Here's how we print variables in Go programming.

// Program to illustrate fmt.Print() 

package main

// import the fmt package
import "fmt"

func main() {
  
  name := "John" 
  fmt.Print(name)

}

Output

John

Note: We must not wrap variables inside quotation marks while printing. Otherwise, it's considered as a string.

Printing Multiple Values At Once

We can print multiple values and variables at once by separating them with commas. For example,

// Program to illustrate fmt.Print() 

package main

// import the fmt package
import "fmt"

func main() {
  
  name := "John" 
  fmt.Print("Name: ", name)
}

Output

Name: John

Go fmt.Println()

The way fmt.Println() works is similar to how fmt.Print() works with a couple of differences.

1. fmt.Println() prints a new line at the end by default.
2. If we print multiple values and variables at once, a space is added between the values by default.

// Program to illustrate the use of Println() function

package main
import "fmt"

// prints output in different lines
func main() {

  currentSalary := 50000

  fmt.Println("Hello")
  fmt.Println("World!")
  fmt.Println("Current Salary:", currentSalary)

}

Output:

Hello
World!
Current Salary: 50000

Things to notice:

• All the output messages are printed in separate lines
• A space is added after Current Salary: by default

Go fmt.Printf()

The fmt.Printf() function formats the strings and sends them to the screen. Let's see an example.

currentAge := 21
fmt.Printf("Age = %d", currentAge)

Here, the fmt.Printf() function replaces the %d with the value of currentAge.

By the way, %d is a format specifier that replaces integer variables with their values.

In Go, every data type has a unique format specifier.

Example: Using %g to print Float Values

// Program to print an integer using its format specifier %g

package main
import "fmt"

func main() {
  var number annualSalary = 65000.5

  fmt.Printf("Annual Salary: %g", annualSalary)
}

Output

Annual Salary:  65000.5

Here, fmt.Printf() converts the "Annual Salary: %g" string to "Annual Salary: 65000.5".

Example: Using format specifiers to hold value of a variable

A format string may also have multiple format specifiers.

package main
import "fmt"

func main() {
  var name = "John"
  age := 23

  fmt.Printf("%s is %d years old.", name, age)
}

Output

John is 23 years old.

Here's how this code works:

Printing Without Package

It's also possible to print output without using the fmt package. For that, we use print() and println(). For example,

// Program to print output using print() function

package main

func main() {
  println("Using println instead of fmt.Println")
  
  print("Using print instead of fmt.Print")
}

Output

Using println instead of fmt.Println
Using print instead of fmt.Print

Here, we have used println() and print() instead of fmt.Println() and fmt.Print() respectively.

Note: It's recommended to use the fmt package for printing. We usually use println(), print() only for debugging purposes. To learn more, visit fmt.Println() Vs println() in Go programming.