The following code
package main
import "strings"
import "fmt"
type Foo string
const (
Bar Foo = "bar"
Snafu = "snafu"
Foobar = "foobar"
)
var Foos = []Foo{Bar, Snafu, Foobar}
func main() {
fmt.Println("Foos: " + strings.Join(Foos, ","))
}
Produces this error:
./test.go:17: cannot use Foos (type []Foo) as type []string in argument to strings.Join
This makes sense since Foo is not string but it is derived from string. Is there any way to coerce the "[]Foo" to "[]string" without copying?
Pretty much the best and only way to do it is to loop over the slice of Foo objects as in (causing a copy):
func main() {
results := make([]string, 0)
for _, r := range Foos{
results = append(results, string(r))
}
fmt.Println("Foos: " + strings.Join(results, ","))
}
Unfortunately as of this time Go does not support the concept type coercion and requires a copy. As an alternative you can type alias []Foo and add a Stringer method to it therefore encapsulating such details as in: http://play.golang.org/p/FuOoLNrCvD
See the following for a similar question: Cannot convert []string to []interface {}