Go Command Line Arguments

If you are making a console based program, you may need to have some arguments passed to it. Below is a simple example of how to do this!

Hello Example

In Go, any command arguments passed to the your program are available via the os.Args slice. This can be looped over just like any other slice or array. It is usually worth skipping the first item as this contains the name of the exe.

Full Go Program

The Go compiling guide explains the folder set up for a Go program, once that is done:

• Save the following into the project folder as hello.go
• From the command line, inside the folder use go build to make your exe file.
• Run the compiled program with hello followed by some names e.g. hello kevin stuart bob

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	// The first item is the program name
	fmt.Println("Program name:", os.Args[0])

	// Check if we have passed any arguments
	if len(os.Args) > 1 {
		
		for i, v := range os.Args {
			// Not interested in the program name so skipping...
			if i > 0 {
				fmt.Println("Hi ", v, " Person #", i)
			}
		}
	} else {
		fmt.Println("Where is everyone?")
	}
}

Updated (25/08/2026)