Error handling is one of the frequent operations in the software development cycle.

Its a crucial aspect of good programming.

Go takes a simple and easy-to-use approach with its built-in mechanism for error handling.

error text on white background

Theerrorspackage provides additional functionality for error handling.

The Errors Package

The errors packageis one of the packages in Go’s standard library.

The package provides simple error-handling primitives and functionalities for creating and manipulating errors consistently across Go code.

error from the file opening operation

Theerrorspackage also provides functionality for wrapping and unwrapping errors, a method for jot down assertions on errors.

you’ve got the option to import theerrorspackage with the import keyword.

Simply specify the name of the package in your list of imports.

Functions and methods return errors that are accompanied by a resource.

Here’s an example of error handling from a file opening operation with the built-inospackage.

TheOpenmethod of theospackage is useful whenworking with text files in Go.

It opens a file, returning an open file instance and anerror.

The error value could be theniltype, indicating no errors.

In the case above, the if block prints the error.

you could access theErrormethod of an error to extract more information about the error (usually a description).

This method takes in a string message and returns encountered errors.

Themainfunction creates a new error and handles possible errors from the error creation with anifstatement.

you might also define custom errors in Go.

ThecustomErrorstruct is the blueprint for the error, and theinfostring field will hold the error alert.

Your error functions can implement thecustomErrorstruct and return an error string.

TheErrormethod of thecustomErrorstruct returns a string usingthe Sprintf formatting method of the fmt package.

You’ll primarily use wrapped errors to create clear error messages for precision in debugging.

you’re free to use theErrorfmethod of thefmtpackage that provides functionality for formatting error messages to wrap errors.

TheErrorfmethod takes in a string and string formatting verb and the error and returns the wrapped error.

Themainfunction opens a file with theospackage’sOpenmethod and wraps the error with the Errorf method of thefmtpackage.

It then outputs the wrapped error to the console.

you might unwrap wrapped errors in your programs with theUnwrapmethod of theerrorspackage.

TheUnwrapmethod takes in the wrapped error and returns the unwrapped error.

Themainfunction wraps an error from a file opening operation, and theunwrappedErrvariable holds the unwrapped error.