How to retrieve files using embed in Go

There are several ways to retrieve files in Go.

You can use os.ReadFile() to read a file, or you can use the embed package to retrieve a file.

Although used for slightly different purposes, using the embed package allows you to include files during the build, which is useful for distribution.

Let’s take a simple example by creating a txt file as follows:

Hello, World!

Now, let’s retrieve this file using the embed package.

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    _ "embed"
)

//go:embed hello.txt
var content string

func main() {
    fmt.Println(content)
}

Running the above code will produce the following output:

Hello, World!

Not only txt files, but you can retrieve and read practically any file, including html, css, js, yaml, and more.

However, be cautious when retrieving very large files, as it may consume a significant amount of memory.