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Go Integer Data Types


Go Integer Data Types

Integer data types are used to store a whole number without decimals, like 35, -50, or 1345000.

The integer data type has two categories:

  • Signed integers - can store both positive and negative values
  • Unsigned integers - can only store non-negative values

Tip: The default type for integer is int. If you do not specify a type, the type will be int.


Signed Integers

Signed integers, declared with one of the int keywords, can store both positive and negative values:

Example

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
  var x int = 500
  var y int = -4500
  fmt.Printf("Type: %T, value: %v", x, x)
  fmt.Printf("Type: %T, value: %v", y, y)
}
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Go has five keywords/types of signed integers:

Type Size Range
int Depends on platform:
32 bits in 32 bit systems and
64 bit in 64 bit systems
-2147483648 to 2147483647 in 32 bit systems and
-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 in 64 bit systems
int8 8 bits/1 byte -128 to 127
int16 16 bits/2 byte -32768 to 32767
int32 32 bits/4 byte -2147483648 to 2147483647
int64 64 bits/8 byte -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807


Unsigned Integers

Unsigned integers, declared with one of the uint keywords, can only store non-negative values:

Example

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
  var x uint = 500
  var y uint = 4500
  fmt.Printf("Type: %T, value: %v", x, x)
  fmt.Printf("Type: %T, value: %v", y, y)
}
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Go has five keywords/types of unsigned integers:

Type Size Range
uint Depends on platform:
32 bits in 32 bit systems and
64 bit in 64 bit systems
0 to 4294967295 in 32 bit systems and
0 to 18446744073709551615 in 64 bit systems
uint8 8 bits/1 byte 0 to 255
uint16 16 bits/2 byte 0 to 65535
uint32 32 bits/4 byte 0 to 4294967295
uint64 64 bits/8 byte 0 to 18446744073709551615

Which Integer Type to Use?

The type of integer to choose, depends on the value the variable has to store.

Example

This example will result in an error because 1000 is out of range for int8 (which is from -128 to 127):

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
  var x int8 = 1000
  fmt.Printf("Type: %T, value: %v", x, x)
}

Result:

./prog.go:5:7: constant 1000 overflows int8

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