How to Create, Open, and Delete Files in Go

Use the os package to create, open, and delete files with os.Create, os.Open, and os.Remove. Always check for errors returned by these functions to handle failures gracefully.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	// Create a new file (or truncate if exists)
	file, err := os.Create("example.txt")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error creating file:", err)
		return
	}
	defer file.Close()

	// Open an existing file for reading
	readFile, err := os.Open("example.txt")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error opening file:", err)
		return
	}
	defer readFile.Close()

	// Delete the file
	err = os.Remove("example.txt")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Println("Error deleting file:", err)
	}
}

These commands let your program make new files, read existing ones, or delete them entirely. Think of it like using a file manager to create a document, open it to read, or move it to the trash. You use these tools whenever your software needs to save data to disk or clean up temporary files.