How to embed files into Golang binaries?

Question

I have some text file that I read from my Go program. I'd like to ship a single executable, without supplying that text file additionally. How do I embed it into compilation on Windows and Linux?

Answer 1

You can use a string literal to define the text as a constant or variable. String literals are defined by enclosing the string with back-quotes. e.g. `string`.

For example:

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    const text = `
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec a diam lectus. Sed sit  
amet ipsum mauris. Maecenas congue ligula ac quam viverra nec consectetur ante 
hendrerit. Donec et mollis dolor. Praesent et diam eget libero egestas mattis sit amet 
vitae augue. Nam tincidunt congue enim, ut porta lorem lacinia consectetur. Donec ut 
libero sed arcu vehicula ultricies a non tortor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean ut gravida lorem. Ut turpis felis, pulvinar a 
semper sed, adipiscing id dolor. Pellentesque auctor nisi id magna consequat sagittis. 
Curabitur dapibus enim sit amet elit pharetra tincidunt feugiat nisl imperdiet. Ut 
convallis libero in urna ultrices accumsan. Donec sed odio eros. Donec viverra mi quis 
quam pulvinar at malesuada arcu rhoncus. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis 
parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. In rutrum accumsan ultricies. Mauris vitae 
nisi at sem facilisis semper ac in est.
`

    fmt.Println(text)
}