How to compare two slices of bytes in Golang?
Last Updated : 06 Nov, 2024
In Go, a slice is a powerful, flexible data structure that allows elements of the same type to be stored in a variable-length sequence. When working with byte slices ([]byte), Go provides easy-to-use functions in the bytes package to compare them. In this article we will learn "How to compare two slices of bytes in Golang".
Example
slice1 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slice2 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slice3 := []byte{'g', 'o', 'L', 'A', 'N', 'g'}Syntax
func Compare(a, b []byte) int #bytes.Compare() func Equal(a, b []byte) bool #bytes.Equal() func DeepEqual(x, y interface{}) bool #reflect.DeepEqual()Comparing with bytes.Compare()
The bytes.Compare function returns:
0 if the slices are equal,-1 if slice1 is less than slice2, and1 if slice1 is greater than slice2.
Syntax
func Compare(a, b []byte) int
Example:
Go package main import ( "bytes" "fmt" ) func main() { slice1 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slice2 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slice3 := []byte{'g', 'o', 'L', 'A', 'N', 'g'} fmt.Println(bytes.Compare(slice1, slice2)) // Output: 0 (equal) fmt.Println(bytes.Compare(slice1, slice3)) // Output: -1 (slice1 < slice3) } Comparing with bytes.Equal()
To directly check if two byte slices are equal, use bytes.Equal, which returns true if the slices are identical.
Syntax
func Equal(a, b []byte) bool
Example
Go package main import ( "bytes" "fmt" ) func main() { slc1 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slc2 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slc3 := []byte{'g', 'o', 'L', 'A', 'N', 'g'} fmt.Println(bytes.Equal(slc1, slc2)) // Output: true fmt.Println(bytes.Equal(slc1, slc3)) // Output: false } Using reflect.DeepEqual() (Alternative Method)
reflect.DeepEqual compares the values and structure of two variables. While not specific to byte slices, it can also be used for equality checks.
Syntax
func DeepEqual(x, y interface{}) boolExample
Go package main import ( "fmt" "reflect" ) func main() { slc1 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slc2 := []byte{'G', 'o', 'l', 'a', 'n', 'g'} slc3 := []byte{'g', 'o', 'L', 'A', 'N', 'g'} fmt.Println(reflect.DeepEqual(slc1, slc2)) // Output: true fmt.Println(reflect.DeepEqual(slc1, slc3)) // Output: false } Similar Reads
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