pointer

Go package pointer provides helpers to convert between pointers and values of built-in (and, with Go 1.18+ generics, of any) types.

go get github.com/AlekSi/pointer

API is stable. Documentation.

package motivationalexample

import (
    "encoding/json"

    "github.com/AlekSi/pointer"
)

const (
    defaultName = "some name"
)

// Stuff contains optional fields.
type Stuff struct {
    Name    *string
    Comment *string
    Value   *int64
    Time    *time.Time
}

// SomeStuff makes some JSON-encoded stuff.
func SomeStuff() (data []byte, err error) {
    return json.Marshal(&Stuff{
        Name:    pointer.ToString(defaultName),                                   // can't say &defaultName
        Comment: pointer.ToString("not yet"),                                     // can't say &"not yet"
        Value:   pointer.ToInt64(42),                                             // can't say &42 or &int64(42)
        Time:    pointer.ToTime(time.Date(2014, 6, 25, 12, 24, 40, 0, time.UTC)), // can't say &time.Date(…)
    })
}