Golang commands

In this lesson, we explore some of the most commonly used Go commands. Each section outlines the purpose of a command and demonstrates how it integrates into your development workflow.

Initializing a New Module with go.mod

Use the go mod init command to create a new module. This command initializes a new go.mod file in the current directory, establishing the module's root. You can optionally provide a module path as an argument if needed.

go mod init

Tidying the Module with go.mod tidy

The go mod tidy command ensures that your go.mod file accurately reflects the dependencies used in your source code. It automatically adds any missing module requirements and removes those that are no longer relevant.

go mod tidy

Running Go Code with go run

The go run command facilitates quick testing of your Go code. It compiles and runs your program by creating an executable binary in a temporary location. Once the program completes execution, Go cleans up the temporary binary, similar to running a script in other languages.

go run <file>

Building and Installing Executables

go build

The go build command compiles the packages specified by the import paths along with their dependencies into an executable. The resulting binary is created in the current source directory.

go build

go install

The go install command compiles your code and installs the executable into the GOPATH/bin directory. This makes it accessible from any terminal session. To find your GOPATH, execute the following command:

go env GOPATH

Below is a diagram that illustrates the difference between go build and go install:

Managing Dependencies with go get

The go get command helps manage dependencies by resolving package arguments to specific module versions. It updates the go.mod file with the necessary versions and downloads the source code into the module cache. Use this command to add, upgrade, or downgrade a dependency.

go get example.com/pkg
go get example.com/pkg@v1.2.3

That concludes our walkthrough of essential Go commands. Happy coding, and see you in the next lesson!