proposal: cmd/gofmt: A non-syntactic fix for error handling (permit single-line "if" statements)

[FBemf]

Proposal Details

The primary complaint with the typical go error handling pattern:

result, err := myFunc()
if err != nil {
    return nil, wrap(err)
}

is that two lines of meaningful code (lines 1 and 3) are taking up four lines of space. This isn't a syntax problem; this is a formatting problem. We could fix it like this:

result, err := myFunc()
if err != nil { return nil, wrap(err); }

I propose that gofmt permit single-line if statements. It doesn't need to create them proactively, but it should at least not alter them when it finds them.

There is some precedent for this. Gofmt already does not alter how arguments are broken up across multiple lines. All of the following are considered permissible by gofmt, and the programmer is expected to choose which of them to use on their own.

myFunc("first argument", "second argument", "third argument")
myFunc("first argument",
    "second argument", "third argument")
myFunc(
    "first argument",
    "second argument",
    "third argument",
)

With that in mind, I think allowing the programmer to choose between a one-line if err != nil and a three-line if err != nil is a moderate change that does not compromise gofmt's goal of standardizing code while leaving programmers with the option to write terser error handling if they wish.

[gabyhelp]

Related Issues

• Proposal: gofmt should format single-statement error return on 1 line instead of current 3 lines. #33113 (closed)
• cmd/gofmt: proposal: place conditional single statement return on a single line (e.g. `if err != nil { return err }`) #60771 (closed)
• proposal: cmd/gofmt allow keeping one line as is in which if block is quite simple especially for `if err != nil { return err; }` #53567 (closed)
• proposal: go/printer: don't reformat single line if statements #57645 (closed)
• proposal: allow implicit conversion of error to bool in if statements, fmt on one line #38151 (closed)
• proposal: gofmt should allow short inlined if-return statements #27135 (closed)
• proposal: gofmt semicolon before if-return statements #27450 (closed)
• proposal: Go 2: Single line `if` variant for returns and other jump statements #62434 (closed)
• Proposal: Support inline "if" statement syntax #32860 (closed)
• proposal: Go 2: return if (with context) #53017 (closed)

_{(Emoji vote if this was helpful or unhelpful; more detailed feedback welcome in this discussion.)}