go map, key is string, value is pointer to a struct -

type country struct {     code string     name string }  var store = map[string]*country{} 

in go code piece, key string, value pointer struct. what's benefit use pointer of contry here? can remove "*" , achieve same behaviour? such as:

 var store = map[string]country 

thanks.

you can achieve same behavior using either pointer or value.

package main  import (     "fmt" )  type country struct {     code string     name string }  func main() {     var store = make(map[string]*country)     var store2 = make(map[string]country)      c1 := country{"us", "united states"}      store["country1"] = &c1     store2["country1"] = c1      fmt.println(store["country1"].name)  // prints "united states"     fmt.println(store2["country1"].name) // prints "united states"  } 

using pointer store address of struct in map instead of copy of entire struct. small structs in example won't make of difference. larger structs might impact performance.