Is it OK to leave a channel open?

go channel
Kluyg picture Kluyg · Dec 21, 2011 · Viewed 41.7k times · Source

Is it OK to leave a Go channel open forever (never close the channel) if I never check for its state? Will it lead to memory leaks? Is the following code OK?

func (requestCh chan<- Request) GetResponse(data RequestData) Response {
    reply := make(chan Response)
    requestCh <- Request{data: data, replyCh: reply}
    return <-reply
}

Answer

peterSO picture peterSO · Dec 21, 2011

It's OK to leave a Go channel open forever and never close it. When the channel is no longer used, it will be garbage collected.

Note that it is only necessary to close a channel if the receiver is looking for a close. Closing the channel is a control signal on the channel indicating that no more data follows.

Design Question: Channel Closing

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