In Go, how can I convert a struct to a byte array?

arrays struct go byte
abw333 picture abw333 · May 2, 2013 · Viewed 84.8k times · Source

I have an instance of a struct that I defined and I would like to convert it to an array of bytes. I tried []byte(my_struct), but that did not work. Also, I was pointed to the binary package, but I am not sure which function I should use and how I should use it. An example would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

Jeremy Wall picture Jeremy Wall · May 2, 2013

I assume you want something like the way C handles this. There is no built in way to do that. You will have to define your own serialization and deserialization to and from bytes for your struct. The binary package will help you encode the fields in your struct to bytes that you can add to the byte array but you will be responsible for specifying the lengths and offsets in the byte array that will hold the fields from your struct.

Your other options are to use one of the encoding packages: http://golang.org/pkg/encoding/ such as gob or json.

EDIT:

Since you want this for making a hash as you say in your comment the easisest thing to do is use []byte(fmt.Sprintf("%v", struct)) like so: http://play.golang.org/p/yY8mSdZ_kf

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