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Golang Constants

Learn about the Golang constant, how to declare single and multiple constants, how to use them?
Submitted by IncludeHelp, on July 23, 2021 [Last updated : March 08, 2023]

Just like other programming languages, in Golang, a constant is the name of a fixed value. Constant's value cannot be changed.

How to declare constant in Golang?

To declare a constant in Golang, we use the const keyword followed by an identifier (constant name), type, and the constant value. The constant value must be assigned during the declaration of the constant.

Syntax

const constant_name type = constant_value  
const constant_name = constant_value

Note: We can also omit the type during the constant declaration, the compiler assigns the type of the value to the constant.

Golang code to demonstrate the example of constant

package main

import (
	"fmt"
)

const DEFAULT_NAME string = "Not available"
const DEFAULT_VALUE = 0

func main() {
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_NAME is", DEFAULT_NAME)
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is", DEFAULT_VALUE)
}

Output

The value of DEFAULT_NAME is Not available
The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is 0

Declaring multiple constants

To declare multiple constants together – follow the below syntax,

Syntax

const (
	DEFAULT_NAME  string = "Not available"
	DEFAULT_VALUE        = 0
)

Golang code to demonstrate the example of declaring multiple constants

package main

import (
	"fmt"
)

const (
	DEFAULT_NAME  string = "Not available"
	DEFAULT_VALUE        = 0
)

func main() {
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_NAME is", DEFAULT_NAME)
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is", DEFAULT_VALUE)
}

Output

The value of DEFAULT_NAME is Not available
The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is 0

What happens if we don't assign the value while constant declaration?

If we don't assign the value to the constant while declaration, the constant will not be declared and the program will generate an error.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
)

const DEFAULT_NAME string
const DEFAULT_VALUE

func main() {
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_NAME is", DEFAULT_NAME)
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is", DEFAULT_VALUE)
}

Output:

./prog.go:7:20: const declaration cannot have type without expression
./prog.go:7:20: missing value in const declaration
./prog.go:8:7: missing value in const declaration
./prog.go:11:46: undefined: DEFAULT_NAME
./prog.go:12:47: undefined: DEFAULT_VALUE

What happens if we change the value of a constant after the declaration?

We cannot change the value of a constant after declaring it. If we try to change the value of a constant after the declaration, the program will generate an error.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
)

const DEFAULT_NAME string = "Not available"
const DEFAULT_VALUE = 0

func main() {
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_NAME is", DEFAULT_NAME)
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is", DEFAULT_VALUE)

	DEFAULT_VALUE = 100
	fmt.Println("The value of DEFAULT_VALUE is", DEFAULT_VALUE)
}

Output:

./prog.go:14:16: cannot assign to DEFAULT_VALUE (declared const)

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