Go Access, Change, Append and Copy Slices

Access Elements of a Slice

You can access a specific slice element by referring to the index number.

In Go, indexes start at 0. That means that [0] is the first element, [1] is the second element, etc.

Example

This example shows how to access the first and third elements in the prices slice:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
  prices := []int{10,20,30}

  fmt.Println(prices[0])
  fmt.Println(prices[2])
}

Result:


    10 

    30

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Change Elements of a Slice

You can also change a specific slice element by referring to the index number.

Example

This example shows how to change the third element in the prices slice:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
  prices := []int{10,20,30}
prices[2] = 50
  fmt.Println(prices[0])
  fmt.Println(prices[2])
}

Result:


    10 

    50

Try it Yourself »

Append Elements To a Slice

You can append elements to the end of a slice using the append()function:

Syntax

slice_name = append(slice_name, element1, element2, ...)

Example

This example shows how to append elements to the end of a slice:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
myslice1 := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}
fmt.Printf("myslice1 = %v\n", myslice1)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(myslice1))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(myslice1))

myslice1 = append(myslice1, 20, 21)
fmt.Printf("myslice1 = %v\n", myslice1)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(myslice1))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(myslice1))
}

Result:


    myslice1 = [1 2 3 4 5 6]
length = 6
capacity = 6
myslice1 = [1 2 3 
    4 5 6 20 21]
length = 8
capacity = 12

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Append One Slice To Another Slice

To append all the elements of one slice to another slice, use the append()function:

Syntax

slice3 = append(slice1, slice2...)

Note: The '...' after slice2 is necessary when appending the elements of one slice to another.

Example

This example shows how to append one slice to another slice:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
myslice1 := []int{1,2,3}
myslice2 := []int{4,5,6}
myslice3 := append(myslice1, myslice2...)

fmt.Printf("myslice3=%v\n", myslice3)
fmt.Printf("length=%d\n", len(myslice3))
fmt.Printf("capacity=%d\n", cap(myslice3))
}

Result:


    myslice3=[1 2 3 4 5 6]
length=6
capacity=6

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Change The Length of a Slice

Unlike arrays, it is possible to change the length of a slice.

Example

This example shows how to change the length of a slice:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
arr1 := [6]int{9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14} // An array
myslice1 := arr1[1:5] // Slice array
fmt.Printf("myslice1 = %v\n", myslice1)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(myslice1))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(myslice1))

myslice1 = arr1[1:3] // Change length by re-slicing the array
fmt.Printf("myslice1 = %v\n", myslice1)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(myslice1))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(myslice1))

myslice1 = append(myslice1, 20, 21, 22, 23) // Change length by appending items
fmt.Printf("myslice1 = %v\n", myslice1)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(myslice1))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(myslice1))
}

Result:


    myslice1 = [10 11 12 13]
length = 4
capacity = 5
myslice1 = [10 11]

    length = 2
capacity = 5
myslice1 = [10 11 20 21 22 23]
length = 6

    capacity = 10

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Memory Efficiency

When using slices, Go loads all the underlying elements into the memory.

If the array is large and you need only a few elements, it is better to copy those elements using the copy() function.

The copy() function creates a new underlying array with only the required elements for the slice. This will reduce the memory used for the program.

Syntax

copy(dest, src)

The copy() function takes in two slices dest and src, and copies data from src to dest. It returns the number of elements copied.

Example

This example shows how to use the copy() function:

package main
import ("fmt")

func main() {
numbers := []int{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15}
// Original slice
fmt.Printf("numbers = %v\n", numbers)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(numbers))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(numbers))

// Create copy with only needed numbers
neededNumbers := numbers[:len(numbers)-10]
numbersCopy := make([]int, len(neededNumbers))
copy(numbersCopy, neededNumbers)

fmt.Printf("numbersCopy = %v\n", numbersCopy)
fmt.Printf("length = %d\n", len(numbersCopy))
fmt.Printf("capacity = %d\n", cap(numbersCopy))
}

Result:


    // Original slice
numbers = [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15]
length = 15
capacity = 
    15
// New slice
numbersCopy = [1 2 3 4 5]
length = 5
capacity = 5

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The capacity of the new slice is now less than the capacity of the original slice because the new underlying array is smaller.

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