Go
Go file operations
Create Empty File
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
var (
newFile *os.File
err error
)
func main() {
newFile, err = os.Create("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Println(newFile)
newFile.Close()
}
Truncate a File
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Truncate a file to 100 bytes. If file
// is less than 100 bytes the original contents will remain
// at the beginning, and the rest of the space is
// filled will null bytes. If it is over 100 bytes,
// Everything past 100 bytes will be lost. Either way
// we will end up with exactly 100 bytes.
// Pass in 0 to truncate to a completely empty file
err := os.Truncate("test.txt", 100)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Get File Info
go
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"os"
)
var (
fileInfo *os.FileInfo
err error
)
func main() {
// Stat returns file info. It will return
// an error if there is no file.
fileInfo, err := os.Stat("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("File name:", fileInfo.Name())
fmt.Println("Size in bytes:", fileInfo.Size())
fmt.Println("Permissions:", fileInfo.Mode())
fmt.Println("Last modified:", fileInfo.ModTime())
fmt.Println("Is Directory: ", fileInfo.IsDir())
fmt.Printf("System interface type: %T\n", fileInfo.Sys())
fmt.Printf("System info: %+v\n\n", fileInfo.Sys())
}
Rename and Move a File
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
originalPath := "test.txt"
newPath := "test2.txt"
err := os.Rename(originalPath, newPath)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Delete a File
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
err := os.Remove("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Open and Close Files
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Simple read only open. We will cover actually reading
// and writing to files in examples further down the page
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
file.Close()
// OpenFile with more options. Last param is the permission mode
// Second param is the attributes when opening
file, err = os.OpenFile("test.txt", os.O_APPEND, 0666)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
file.Close()
// Use these attributes individually or combined
// with an OR for second arg of OpenFile()
// e.g. os.O_CREATE|os.O_APPEND
// or os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC|os.O_WRONLY
// os.O_RDONLY // Read only
// os.O_WRONLY // Write only
// os.O_RDWR // Read and write
// os.O_APPEND // Append to end of file
// os.O_CREATE // Create is none exist
// os.O_TRUNC // Truncate file when opening
}
Check if File Exists
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
var (
fileInfo *os.FileInfo
err error
)
func main() {
// Stat returns file info. It will return
// an error if there is no file.
fileInfo, err := os.Stat("test.txt")
if err != nil {
if os.IsNotExist(err) {
log.Fatal("File does not exist.")
}
}
log.Println("File does exist. File information:")
log.Println(fileInfo)
}
Check Read and Write Permissions
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Test write permissions. It is possible the file
// does not exist and that will return a different
// error that can be checked with os.IsNotExist(err)
file, err := os.OpenFile("test.txt", os.O_WRONLY, 0666)
if err != nil {
if os.IsPermission(err) {
log.Println("Error: Write permission denied.")
}
}
file.Close()
// Test read permissions
file, err = os.OpenFile("test.txt", os.O_RDONLY, 0666)
if err != nil {
if os.IsPermission(err) {
log.Println("Error: Read permission denied.")
}
}
file.Close()
}
Change Permissions, Ownership, and Timestamps
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
"time"
)
func main() {
// Change perrmissions using Linux style
err := os.Chmod("test.txt", 0777)
if err != nil {
log.Println(err)
}
// Change ownership
err = os.Chown("test.txt", os.Getuid(), os.Getgid())
if err != nil {
log.Println(err)
}
// Change timestamps
twoDaysFromNow := time.Now().Add(48 * time.Hour)
lastAccessTime := twoDaysFromNow
lastModifyTime := twoDaysFromNow
err = os.Chtimes("test.txt", lastAccessTime, lastModifyTime)
if err != nil {
log.Println(err)
}
}
Hard Links and Symlinks
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
// Create a hard link
// You will have two file names that point to the same contents
// Changing the contents of one will change the other
// Deleting/renaming one will not affect the other
err := os.Link("original.txt", "original_also.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("creating sym")
// Create a symlink
err = os.Symlink("original.txt", "original_sym.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Lstat will return file info, but if it is actually
// a symlink, it will return info about the symlink.
// It will not follow the link and give information
// about the real file
// Symlinks do not work in Windows
fileInfo, err := os.Lstat("original_sym.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Link info: %+v", fileInfo)
// Change ownership of a symlink only
// and not the file it points to
err = os.Lchown("original_sym.txt", os.Getuid(), os.Getgid())
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Copy a File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"io"
)
// Copy a file
func main() {
// Open original file
originalFile, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer originalFile.Close()
// Create new file
newFile, err := os.Create("test_copy.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer newFile.Close()
// Copy the bytes to destination from source
bytesWritten, err := io.Copy(newFile, originalFile)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Copied %d bytes.", bytesWritten)
// Commit the file contents
// Flushes memory to disk
err = newFile.Sync()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Seek Positions in File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"fmt"
"log"
)
func main() {
file, _ := os.Open("test.txt")
defer file.Close()
// Offset is how many bytes to move
// Offset can be positive or negative
var offset int64 = 5
// Whence is the point of reference for offset
// 0 = Beginning of file
// 1 = Current position
// 2 = End of file
var whence int = 0
newPosition, err := file.Seek(offset, whence)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Just moved to 5:", newPosition)
// Go back 2 bytes from current position
newPosition, err = file.Seek(-2, 1)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Just moved back two:", newPosition)
// Find the current position by getting the
// return value from Seek after moving 0 bytes
currentPosition, err := file.Seek(0, 1)
fmt.Println("Current position:", currentPosition)
// Go to beginning of file
newPosition, err = file.Seek(0, 0)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Position after seeking 0,0:", newPosition)
}
Write Bytes to a File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
)
func main() {
// Open a new file for writing only
file, err := os.OpenFile(
"test.txt",
os.O_WRONLY|os.O_TRUNC|os.O_CREATE,
0666,
)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer file.Close()
// Write bytes to file
byteSlice := []byte("Bytes!\n")
bytesWritten, err := file.Write(byteSlice)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Wrote %d bytes.\n", bytesWritten)
}
Quick Write to File
go
package main
import (
"io/ioutil"
"log"
)
func main() {
err := ioutil.WriteFile("test.txt", []byte("Hi\n"), 0666)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Use Buffered Writer
go
package main
import (
"log"
"os"
"bufio"
)
func main() {
// Open file for writing
file, err := os.OpenFile("test.txt", os.O_WRONLY, 0666)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer file.Close()
// Create a buffered writer from the file
bufferedWriter := bufio.NewWriter(file)
// Write bytes to buffer
bytesWritten, err := bufferedWriter.Write(
[]byte{65, 66, 67},
)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Bytes written: %d\n", bytesWritten)
// Write string to buffer
// Also available are WriteRune() and WriteByte()
bytesWritten, err = bufferedWriter.WriteString(
"Buffered string\n",
)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Bytes written: %d\n", bytesWritten)
// Check how much is stored in buffer waiting
unflushedBufferSize := bufferedWriter.Buffered()
log.Printf("Bytes buffered: %d\n", unflushedBufferSize)
// See how much buffer is available
bytesAvailable := bufferedWriter.Available()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Available buffer: %d\n", bytesAvailable)
// Write memory buffer to disk
bufferedWriter.Flush()
// Revert any changes done to buffer that have
// not yet been written to file with Flush()
// We just flushed, so there are no changes to revert
// The writer that you pass as an argument
// is where the buffer will output to, if you want
// to change to a new writer
bufferedWriter.Reset(bufferedWriter)
// See how much buffer is available
bytesAvailable = bufferedWriter.Available()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Available buffer: %d\n", bytesAvailable)
// Resize buffer. The first argument is a writer
// where the buffer should output to. In this case
// we are using the same buffer. If we chose a number
// that was smaller than the existing buffer, like 10
// we would not get back a buffer of size 10, we will
// get back a buffer the size of the original since
// it was already large enough (default 4096)
bufferedWriter = bufio.NewWriterSize(
bufferedWriter,
8000,
)
// Check available buffer size after resizing
bytesAvailable = bufferedWriter.Available()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Available buffer: %d\n", bytesAvailable)
}
Read up to n Bytes from File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
)
func main() {
// Open file for reading
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer file.Close()
// Read up to len(b) bytes from the File
// Zero bytes written means end of file
// End of file returns error type io.EOF
byteSlice := make([]byte, 16)
bytesRead, err := file.Read(byteSlice)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Number of bytes read: %d\n", bytesRead)
log.Printf("Data read: %s\n", byteSlice)
}
Read Exactly n Bytes
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"io"
)
func main() {
// Open file for reading
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// The file.Read() function will happily read a tiny file in to a large
// byte slice, but io.ReadFull() will return an
// error if the file is smaller than the byte slice.
byteSlice := make([]byte, 2)
numBytesRead, err := io.ReadFull(file, byteSlice)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Number of bytes read: %d\n", numBytesRead)
log.Printf("Data read: %s\n", byteSlice)
}
Read At Least n Bytes
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"io"
)
func main() {
// Open file for reading
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
byteSlice := make([]byte, 512)
minBytes := 8
// io.ReadAtLeast() will return an error if it cannot
// find at least minBytes to read. It will read as
// many bytes as byteSlice can hold.
numBytesRead, err := io.ReadAtLeast(file, byteSlice, minBytes)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Number of bytes read: %d\n", numBytesRead)
log.Printf("Data read: %s\n", byteSlice)
}
Read All Bytes of File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"fmt"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
// Open file for reading
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// os.File.Read(), io.ReadFull(), and
// io.ReadAtLeast() all work with a fixed
// byte slice that you make before you read
// ioutil.ReadAll() will read every byte
// from the reader (in this case a file),
// and return a slice of unknown slice
data, err := ioutil.ReadAll(file)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Data as hex: %x\n", data)
fmt.Printf("Data as string: %s\n", data)
fmt.Println("Number of bytes read:", len(data))
}
Quick Read Whole File to Memory
go
package main
import (
"log"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
// Read file to byte slice
data, err := ioutil.ReadFile("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Data read: %s\n", data)
}
Use Buffered Reader
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"bufio"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
// Open file and create a buffered reader on top
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
bufferedReader := bufio.NewReader(file)
// Get bytes without advancing pointer
byteSlice := make([]byte, 5)
byteSlice, err = bufferedReader.Peek(5)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Peeked at 5 bytes: %s\n", byteSlice)
// Read and advance pointer
numBytesRead, err := bufferedReader.Read(byteSlice)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Read %d bytes: %s\n", numBytesRead, byteSlice)
// Ready 1 byte. Error if no byte to read
myByte, err := bufferedReader.ReadByte()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Read 1 byte: %c\n", myByte)
// Read up to and including delimiter
// Returns byte slice
dataBytes, err := bufferedReader.ReadBytes('\n')
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Read bytes: %s\n", dataBytes)
// Read up to and including delimiter
// Returns string
dataString, err := bufferedReader.ReadString('\n')
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Printf("Read string: %s\n", dataString)
// This example reads a few lines so test.txt
// should have a few lines of text to work correct
}
Read with a Scanner
go
package main
import (
"os"
"log"
"fmt"
"bufio"
)
func main() {
// Open file and create scanner on top of it
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
scanner := bufio.NewScanner(file)
// Default scanner is bufio.ScanLines. Lets use ScanWords.
// Could also use a custom function of SplitFunc type
scanner.Split(bufio.ScanWords)
// Scan for next token.
success := scanner.Scan()
if success == false {
// False on error or EOF. Check error
err = scanner.Err()
if err == nil {
log.Println("Scan completed and reached EOF")
} else {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
// Get data from scan with Bytes() or Text()
fmt.Println("First word found:", scanner.Text())
// Call scanner.Scan() again to find next token
}
Archive Files
go
// This example uses zip but standard library
// also supports tar archives
package main
import (
"archive/zip"
"log"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Create a file to write the archive buffer to
// Could also use an in memory buffer.
outFile, err := os.Create("test.zip")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer outFile.Close()
// Create a zip writer on top of the file writer
zipWriter := zip.NewWriter(outFile)
// Add files to archive
// We use some hard coded data to demonstrate,
// but you could iterate through all the files
// in a directory and pass the name and contents
// of each file, or you can take data from your
// program and write it write in to the archive
// without
var filesToArchive = []struct {
Name, Body string
} {
{"test.txt", "String contents of file"},
{"test2.txt", "\x61\x62\x63\n"},
}
// Create and write files to the archive, which in turn
// are getting written to the underlying writer to the
// .zip file we created at the beginning
for _, file := range filesToArchive {
fileWriter, err := zipWriter.Create(file.Name)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
_, err = fileWriter.Write([]byte(file.Body))
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
// Clean up
err = zipWriter.Close()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Extract Archived Files
go
package main
import (
"archive/zip"
"log"
"io"
"os"
"path/filepath"
)
func main() {
// Create a reader out of the zip archive
zipReader, err := zip.OpenReader("test.zip")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer zipReader.Close()
// Iterate through each file/dir found in
for _, file := range zipReader.Reader.File {
// Open the file inside the zip archive
// like a normal file
zippedFile, err := file.Open()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer zippedFile.Close()
// Specify what the extracted file name should be.
// You can specify a full path or a prefix
// to move it to a different directory.
// In this case, we will extract the file from
// the zip to a file of the same name.
targetDir := "./"
extractedFilePath := filepath.Join(
targetDir,
file.Name,
)
// Extract the item (or create directory)
if file.FileInfo().IsDir() {
// Create directories to recreate directory
// structure inside the zip archive. Also
// preserves permissions
log.Println("Creating directory:", extractedFilePath)
os.MkdirAll(extractedFilePath, file.Mode())
} else {
// Extract regular file since not a directory
log.Println("Extracting file:", file.Name)
// Open an output file for writing
outputFile, err := os.OpenFile(
extractedFilePath,
os.O_WRONLY|os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC,
file.Mode(),
)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer outputFile.Close()
// "Extract" the file by copying zipped file
// contents to the output file
_, err = io.Copy(outputFile, zippedFile)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
}
}
Compress a File
go
package main
import (
"os"
"compress/gzip"
"log"
)
func main() {
// Create .gz file to write to
outputFile, err := os.Create("test.txt.gz")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Create a gzip writer on top of file writer
gzipWriter := gzip.NewWriter(outputFile)
defer gzipWriter.Close()
// When we write to the gzip writer
// it will in turn compress the contents
// and then write it to the underlying
// file writer as well
// We don't have to worry about how all
// the compression works since we just
// use it as a simple writer interface
// that we send bytes to
_, err = gzipWriter.Write([]byte("Gophers rule!\n"))
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Println("Compressed data written to file.")
}
Uncompress a File
go
package main
import (
"compress/gzip"
"log"
"io"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Open gzip file that we want to uncompress
// The file is a reader, but we could use any
// data source. It is common for web servers
// to return gzipped contents to save bandwidth
// and in that case the data is not in a file
// on the file system but is in a memory buffer
gzipFile, err := os.Open("test.txt.gz")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Create a gzip reader on top of the file reader
// Again, it could be any type reader though
gzipReader, err := gzip.NewReader(gzipFile)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer gzipReader.Close()
// Uncompress to a writer. We'll use a file writer
outfileWriter, err := os.Create("unzipped.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer outfileWriter.Close()
// Copy contents of gzipped file to output file
_, err = io.Copy(outfileWriter, gzipReader)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Temporary Files and Directories
go
package main
import (
"os"
"io/ioutil"
"log"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
// Create a temp dir in the system default temp folder
tempDirPath, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "myTempDir")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Temp dir created:", tempDirPath)
// Create a file in new temp directory
tempFile, err := ioutil.TempFile(tempDirPath, "myTempFile.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
fmt.Println("Temp file created:", tempFile.Name())
// ... do something with temp file/dir ...
// Close file
err = tempFile.Close()
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Delete the resources we created
err = os.Remove(tempFile.Name())
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
err = os.Remove(tempDirPath)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
}
Downloading a File Over HTTP
go
package main
import (
"os"
"io"
"log"
"net/http"
)
func main() {
// Create output file
newFile, err := os.Create("devdungeon.html")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer newFile.Close()
// HTTP GET request devdungeon.com
url := "http://www.devdungeon.com/archive"
response, err := http.Get(url)
defer response.Body.Close()
// Write bytes from HTTP response to file.
// response.Body satisfies the reader interface.
// newFile satisfies the writer interface.
// That allows us to use io.Copy which accepts
// any type that implements reader and writer interface
numBytesWritten, err := io.Copy(newFile, response.Body)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
log.Printf("Downloaded %d byte file.\n", numBytesWritten)
}
Hashing and Checksums
go
package main
import (
"crypto/md5"
"crypto/sha1"
"crypto/sha256"
"crypto/sha512"
"log"
"fmt"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
// Get bytes from file
data, err := ioutil.ReadFile("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Hash the file and output results
fmt.Printf("Md5: %x\n\n", md5.Sum(data))
fmt.Printf("Sha1: %x\n\n", sha1.Sum(data))
fmt.Printf("Sha256: %x\n\n", sha256.Sum256(data))
fmt.Printf("Sha512: %x\n\n", sha512.Sum512(data))
}
go
package main
import (
"crypto/md5"
"log"
"fmt"
"io"
"os"
)
func main() {
// Open file for reading
file, err := os.Open("test.txt")
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
defer file.Close()
// Create new hasher, which is a writer interface
hasher := md5.New()
_, err = io.Copy(hasher, file)
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
// Hash and print. Pass nil since
// the data is not coming in as a slice argument
// but is coming through the writer interface
sum := hasher.Sum(nil)
fmt.Printf("Md5 checksum: %x\n", sum)
}