Go provides a rich set of tools for string manipulation, both in its standard library and through idiomatic patterns. Understanding these can greatly enhance your ability to work with text in Go.

Basic Operations

1. Concatenation

   s := "Hello" + " " + "World"

2. String Length

   len := len("Go")

Strings Package

The strings package offers powerful functions:

1. Splitting

   parts := strings.Split("a,b,c", ",")

2. Joining

   joined := strings.Join([]string{"a", "b", "c"}, "-")

3. Contains and Index

   contains := strings.Contains("seafood", "foo")
   index := strings.Index("chicken", "ken")

4. Trimming

   trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(" hello ")

Efficient String Building

For complex string building, use strings.Builder:

var b strings.Builder
for i := 0; i < 1000; i++ {
    fmt.Fprintf(&b, "%d", i)
}
result := b.String()

Rune Handling

Strings in Go are UTF-8 encoded. Use runes for Unicode characters:

for _, r := range "Hello, 世界" {
    fmt.Printf("%c ", r)
}

Format Strings

Use fmt.Sprintf for complex string formatting:

s := fmt.Sprintf("Pi: %.2f", math.Pi)

Regular Expressions

For complex pattern matching, use the regexp package:

matched, _ := regexp.MatchString(`\d+`, "123")

Mastering string manipulation in Go involves understanding these tools and knowing when to use each one. With practice, you’ll be able to handle text processing tasks efficiently and idiomatically in Go.