Exploring the ToString() Function in Go

In Go, the strings.Join function accepts slices of strings as input. This can be limiting when attempting to concatenate objects of different types. However, it would be convenient to define a custom ToString() method for arbitrary objects.

Implementing Custom ToString() Method

Go provides a straightforward way to achieve this functionality:

Package main

import "fmt"

type bin int

func (b bin) String() string {
return fmt.Sprintf("%b", b)
}

func main() {
fmt.Println(bin(42))
}

In this example, the bin type is defined as a custom numeric type. The String() method is attached to the bin type, enabling the conversion of bin values to strings according to the desired format (binary representation in this case).

Usage and Output

When running the provided code, you will observe the following output:

101010

This demonstrates how the custom ToString() method allows for the concatenation and printing of objects other than strings. The bin value (42) is effortlessly converted to its binary representation and displayed as "101010".