> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.kodekloud.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Package name collision
> This article explains how to resolve package name collisions in Go by aliasing one of the conflicting packages.
When importing packages in Go, you may encounter a scenario where two packages share the same name. This is common when you need to use both the cryptographic random package and the mathematical random package, which are both named "rand." In this guide, you'll learn how to resolve such naming collisions by aliasing one of the packages.
## Scenario Overview
In our example, we work with two packages:
* **crypto/rand**: Provides cryptographically secure random number generation.
* **math/rand**: Offers pseudo-random number generation.
Because both packages are named "rand," importing them directly would cause a naming collision. To prevent this conflict, you can assign an alias to one of the packages. In this article, we alias the "crypto/rand" package as **crand**, while leaving "math/rand" with its default name.
## Example Code
Below is an example of how to alias the "crypto/rand" package and use both packages effectively:
```go theme={null}
import (
crand "crypto/rand"
"encoding/binary"
"math/rand"
)
func seedRand() *rand.Rand {
var b [8]byte
_, err := crand.Read(b[:])
if err != nil {
panic("cannot seed with cryptographic random number generator")
}
r := rand.New(rand.NewSource(int64(binary.LittleEndian.Uint64(b[:]))))
return r
}
```
### Code Explanation
* **Aliasing to Avoid Conflict:**\
The `crypto/rand` package is aliased as **crand**. This prevents confusion with the `math/rand` package.
* **Generating a Cryptographic Seed:**\
The `seedRand` function utilizes `crand.Read` to generate 8 bytes of secure random data.
* **Seed Conversion:**\
The generated bytes are converted into an `int64` seed using `binary.LittleEndian.Uint64`.
* **Creating a Pseudo-Random Generator:**\
Finally, a new pseudo-random generator is initialized using `rand.New` with the secure seed.
Aliasing is a powerful feature when working with multiple packages that have overlapping names. It ensures your code remains clear and unambiguous while leveraging the strengths of different packages.
## Conclusion
This technique of aliasing proves invaluable when working with packages that share the same identifier. By assigning an alias such as **crand** to the cryptographic random package, you can seamlessly use functions from both **crypto/rand** and **math/rand** without any confusion.
Well, that's it for this lesson. We'll see you in the next article.