What Are Go Keywords and Reserved Words

Go keywords are reserved words that define the language's syntax and cannot be used as identifiers like variable or function names. There are 25 keywords in Go, including func, var, if, else, for, struct, interface, type, package, import, return, break, continue, goto, defer, fallthrough, range, select, case, default, switch, chan, map, const, and true/false/nil (which are predeclared identifiers but act similarly). Using any of these as a name will result in a syntax error.

// Valid usage
func main() {
    var x int
    if x == 0 {
        return
    }
}

// Invalid usage: 'func' is a keyword
// var func int // Syntax error: expected 'IDENT', found 'func'

Go keywords are special words that tell the compiler how to interpret your code, like instructions in a recipe. You cannot use these words as names for your own variables or functions because the compiler needs them to understand the structure of your program. Think of them as the grammar rules of the Go language that you must follow to write valid code.