Is there any way to handle nil pointer in Golang without using if/else?

Question

I have this piece of code for example:

type MyStruct struct {    
    ...
    MyField *MyOtherStruct
    ...
}

type MyOtherStruct struct {
    ...
    MyOtherField *string
    ...
}

// I have a fuction that receive MyOtherField as parameter
func MyFunc(myOtherField *string) {
    ...
}

// How can I avoid using if/else here
if MyStruct.MyField != nil {
    MyFunc((*MyStruct.MyField).MyOtherField)
} else {
    MyFunc(nil)
}

In my example, I have to use if else to handle whether MyStruct.MyField is nil or not. I would like to find a way to shorten my code.

I would like to find some way like MyFunc(MyStruct.MyField ? (*MyStruct.MyField).MyOtherField : nil) in JavaScript.

Answer 1

No, you cannot do what you used to do in JS. It is just syntactic sugar. But, there are some alternatives.

First, you can simply write:

if MyStruct.MyField != nil {
    MyFunc(MyStruct.MyField.MyOtherField)
} else {
    MyFunc(nil)
}

In some cases it may make sense to write getters that work with pointer receivers:

func (m *MyOtherStruct) GetOtherField() *OtherFieldType {
   if m==nil {
      return nil
   }
   return m.OtherField
}

Then you can do:

MyFunc(MyStruct.MyField.GetOtherField())

This is how gRPC generates Go models. It is not usually advisable, though. It hides subtle bugs. It is best to be explicit and check where you use it.