I have an error value which when printed on console gives me Token is expired
How can I compare it with a specific error value? I tried this but it did not work:
if err == errors.New("Token is expired") {
log.Printf("Unauthorised: %s
", err)
}
Try
err.Error() == "Token is expired"
Or create your own error by implementing the error interface.
The error type is an interface type. An error variable represents any value that can describe itself as a string. Here is the interface's declaration:
type error interface {
Error() string
}
The most commonly-used error implementation is the errors package's unexported errorString type:
// errorString is a trivial implementation of error.
type errorString struct {
s string
}
func (e *errorString) Error() string {
return e.s
}
See this working code output (The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
"io"
)
func main() {
err1 := fmt.Errorf("Error")
err2 := errors.New("Error")
err3 := io.EOF
fmt.Println(err1) //Error
fmt.Printf("%#v
", err1) // &errors.errorString{s:"Error"}
fmt.Printf("%#v
", err2) // &errors.errorString{s:"Error"}
fmt.Printf("%#v
", err3) // &errors.errorString{s:"EOF"}
}
output:
Error
&errors.errorString{s:"Error"}
&errors.errorString{s:"Error"}
&errors.errorString{s:"EOF"}
Also see: Comparison operators
Comparison operators compare two operands and yield an untyped boolean value. In any comparison, the first operand must be assignable to the type of the second operand, or vice versa.
The equality operators
==
and!=
apply to operands that are comparable.Pointer values are comparable. Two pointer values are equal if they point to the same variable or if both have value nil. Pointers to distinct zero-size variables may or may not be equal.
Interface values are comparable. Two interface values are equal if they have identical dynamic types and equal dynamic values or if both have value nil.
A value x of non-interface type X and a value t of interface type T are comparable when values of type X are comparable and X implements T. They are equal if t's dynamic type is identical to X and t's dynamic value is equal to x.
Struct values are comparable if all their fields are comparable. Two struct values are equal if their corresponding non-blank fields are equal.
So:
1- You may use Error()
, like this working code (The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
err1 := errors.New("Token is expired")
err2 := errors.New("Token is expired")
if err1.Error() == err2.Error() {
fmt.Println(err1.Error() == err2.Error()) // true
}
}
output:
true
2- Also you may compare it with nil
, like this working code (The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"errors"
"fmt"
)
func main() {
err1 := errors.New("Token is expired")
err2 := errors.New("Token is expired")
if err1 != nil {
fmt.Println(err1 == err2) // false
}
}
output:
false
3- Also you may compare it with exact same error, like this working code
(The Go Playground):
package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
)
func main() {
err1 := io.EOF
if err1 == io.EOF {
fmt.Println("err1 is : ", err1)
}
}
output:
err1 is : EOF
Define an error value in a library
package fruits
var NoMorePumpkins = errors.New("No more pumpkins")
Do not create errors with errors.New
anywhere in the code but return the predefined value whenever error occurs and then you can do the following:
package shop
if err == fruits.NoMorePumpkins {
...
}
See io
package errors for reference.
This can be improved by adding methods to hide the check implementation and make the client code more immune to changes in fruits
package.
package fruits
func IsNoMorePumpkins(err error) bool {
return err == NoMorePumpkins
}
See os
package errors for reference.
It's idiomatic for packages to export error variables that they use so others can compare against them.
E.g. If an error would came from a package named myPkg and was defined as:
var ErrTokenExpired error = errors.New("Token is expired")
You could compare the errors directly as:
if err == myPkg.ErrTokenExpired {
log.Printf("Unauthorised: %s
", err)
}
If the errors come from a third party package and that doesn't use exported error variables then what you can do is simply to compare against the string you get from err.Error() but be careful with this approach as changing an Error string might not be released in a major version and would break your business logic.
Declaring an error, and comparing it with '==
' (as in err == myPkg.ErrTokenExpired
) is no longer the best practice with Go 1.13 (Q3 2019)
The release notes mentions:
Go 1.13 contains support for error wrapping, as first proposed in the Error Values proposal and discussed on the associated issue.
An error
e
can wrap another errorw
by providing anUnwrap
method that returnsw
.
Bothe
andw
are available to programs, allowinge
to provide additional context tow
or to reinterpret it while still allowing programs to make decisions based onw
.To support wrapping,
fmt.Errorf
now has a%w
verb for creating wrapped errors, and three new functions in theerrors
package (errors.Unwrap
,errors.Is
anderrors.As
) simplify unwrapping and inspecting wrapped errors.
So the Error Value FAQ explains:
You need to be prepared that errors you get may be wrapped.
If you currently compare errors using
==
, useerrors.Is
instead.
Example:if err == io.ErrUnexpectedEOF
becomes
if errors.Is(err, io.ErrUnexpectedEOF)
- Checks of the form if
err != nil
need not be changed.- Comparisons to
io.EOF
need not be changed, becauseio.EOF
should never be wrapped.If you check for an error type using a type assertion or type switch, use
errors.As
instead. Example:if e, ok := err.(*os.PathError); ok
becomes
var e *os.PathError if errors.As(err, &e)
Also use this pattern to check whether an error implements an interface. (This is one of those rare cases when a pointer to an interface is appropriate.)
Rewrite a type switch as a sequence of
if-elses
.