How to Use the reflect Package in Go

Use the reflect package to inspect types and values at runtime, enabling dynamic behavior like generic serialization or framework logic. Import the package and use reflect.TypeOf to get a type or reflect.ValueOf to get a value, then call methods like Kind or Field to analyze them.

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"reflect"
)

type Person struct {
	Name string
	Age  int
}

func main() {
	p := Person{Name: "Alice", Age: 30}
	v := reflect.ValueOf(p)
	t := reflect.TypeOf(p)

	fmt.Println("Type:", t.Name())
	fmt.Println("Name Field:", v.FieldByName("Name").String())
}

The reflect package lets your Go program look at its own data structures while it is running, rather than just knowing them when you write the code. Think of it like a tool that can read the label on a box to see what is inside without opening it. You use it when you need to write code that works with any type of data, such as a database driver or a logging system.