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Q&A Are hyphens and/or underscores valid in golang package names?

Disclaimer: I don't know Go. This is all just me reading the specification. In the Go specification under Packages, it defines PackageName. PackageName = identifier Under Identifiers identi...

posted 3y ago by Moshi‭ · edited 3y ago by Moshi‭

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#2: Post edited by

Moshi‭ · 2020-10-26T04:09:39Z (over 3 years ago)

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~~Disclaimer, I don't know Go.~~
-----
~~In the Go specification, [Packages](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Packages)~~
> ```
> PackageName = identifier
> ```
Under [Identifiers](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Identifiers)
> ```
> identifier = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .
> ```
Under [Letters and digits](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Letters_and_digits)
> ```
> letter = unicode_letter | "_" .
> ```
Finally, under [Characters](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Characters)
> ```
> unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
> unicode_digit = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Number, decimal digit" */ .
> ```
So it seems according to the specification, any Unicode letter or number, as well as underscores are technically legal.

Disclaimer: I don't know Go. This is all just me reading the specification.
-----
In the Go specification under [Packages](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Packages), it defines `PackageName`.
> ```
> PackageName = identifier
> ```
Under [Identifiers](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Identifiers)
> ```
> identifier = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .
> ```
Under [Letters and digits](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Letters_and_digits)
> ```
> letter = unicode_letter | "_" .
> ```
**Underscores are therefore legal, according to the spec.**
Under [Characters](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Characters), it says what constitutes a `unicode_letter` and `unicode_digit`.
> ```
> unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
> unicode_digit = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Number, decimal digit" */ .
> ```
> In [The Unicode Standard 8.0](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/), Section 4.5 "General Category" defines a set of character categories. Go treats all characters in any of the Letter categories Lu, Ll, Lt, Lm, or Lo as Unicode letters, and those in the Number category Nd as Unicode digits.

#1: Initial revision by

Moshi‭ · 2020-10-26T03:34:43Z (over 3 years ago)

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Disclaimer, I don't know Go.

-----

In the Go specification, [Packages](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Packages)

> ```
> PackageName    = identifier
> ```

Under [Identifiers](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Identifiers)

> ```
> identifier = letter { letter | unicode_digit } .
> ```

Under [Letters and digits](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Letters_and_digits)

> ```
> letter        = unicode_letter | "_" .
> ```

Finally, under [Characters](https://golang.org/ref/spec#Characters)

> ```
> unicode_letter = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Letter" */ .
> unicode_digit  = /* a Unicode code point classified as "Number, decimal digit" */ .
> ```

So it seems according to the specification, any Unicode letter or number, as well as underscores are technically legal.

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