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Pointer Receivers

A receiver type on a method can be a pointer.

Methods with pointer receivers can modify the value to which the receiver points. Since methods often need to modify their receiver, pointer receivers are more common than value receivers. However, methods with pointer receivers don't require that a pointer is used to call the method. The pointer will automatically be derived from the value.

Pointer Receiver

type car struct {
	color string
}

func (c *car) setColor(color string) {
	c.color = color
}

func main() {
	c := car{
		color: "white",
	}
	c.setColor("blue")
	fmt.Println(c.color)
	// prints "blue"
}

Non-Pointer Receiver

type car struct {
	color string
}

func (c car) setColor(color string) {
	c.color = color
}

func main() {
	c := car{
		color: "white",
	}
	c.setColor("blue")
	fmt.Println(c.color)
	// prints "white"
}

The non-pointer receiver example prints "white" instead of "blue" because the method receives a copy of the struct. Without using a pointer receiver, any changes made inside the method only affect that copy, not the original.