Golang : Get constant name from value

Problem :

How to find out the constant name associated with a value? For example, if the a constant value is fixed to an integer during compile time. How does one find out the associated constant name just by processing the integer value during run time ?

Solution :

Use switch statement to return the constant name.

NOTE : Not really an efficient and scalable solution, but it should work for small set of data

 package main

 import (
 "fmt"
 )

 type wordInt int16

 const (
 HELLO = wordInt(1)
 WORLD = wordInt(2)
 HOW = wordInt(3)
 ARE = wordInt(4)
 YOU = wordInt(5)
 )

 func (w wordInt) String() string {
 switch w {
 case 1:
 return "HELLO"
 case 2:
 return "WORLD"
 case 3:
 return "HOW"
 case 4:
 return "ARE"
 case 5:
 return "YOU"
 }
 // else return
 return "NOT Defined"
 }

 func main() {

 fmt.Printf("The constant name associated with integer %d is %s \n", 1, wordInt(1).String())

 // can do without String() as well
 fmt.Printf("The constant name associated with integer %d is %s \n", 2, wordInt(2))

 fmt.Printf("The constant name associated with integer %d is %s \n", 3, wordInt(3))

 fmt.Printf("The constant name associated with integer %d is %s \n", 5, wordInt(5))

 fmt.Printf("The constant name associated with integer %d is %s \n", 9, wordInt(9))

 }

Output :

The constant name associated with integer 1 is HELLO

The constant name associated with integer 2 is WORLD

The constant name associated with integer 3 is HOW

The constant name associated with integer 5 is YOU

The constant name associated with integer 9 is NOT Defined

Reference :

https://blog.golang.org/generate