Example
Go will throw an error when there is a variable that is unused, in order to encourage you to write better code. However, there are some situations when you really don't need to use a value stored in a variable. In those cases, you use a "blank identifier" _ to assign and discard the assigned value.
A blank identifier can be assigned a value of any type, and is most commonly used in functions that return multiple values.
Multiple Return Values
func SumProduct(a, b int) (int, int) {
return a+b, a*b
}
func main() {
// I only want the sum, but not the product
sum, _ := SumProduct(1,2) // the product gets discarded
fmt.Println(sum) // prints 3
}
Using range
func main() {
pets := []string{"dog", "cat", "fish"}
// Range returns both the current index and value
// but sometimes you may only want to use the value
for _, pet := range pets {
fmt.Println(pet)
}
}
