--- title: ValOrDefault | daily.dev description: Go 1.18 introduced ValOrDefault, which helps initialize default values in a configuration struct. It provides a more concise and readable way to set defaults... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: ValOrDefault | daily.dev og:description: Go 1.18 introduced ValOrDefault, which helps initialize default values in a configuration struct. It provides a more concise and readable way to set defaults... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/5Fq8NEds4.png og:image:alt: ValOrDefault og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # ValOrDefault **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Go 1.18 introduced ValOrDefault, which helps initialize default values in a configuration struct. It provides a more concise and readable way to set defaults compared to traditional conditionals. However, in Go 1.22, the built-in cmp.Or is recommended as a preferred alternative to ValOrDefault. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#golang](https://daily.dev/tags/golang) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"ValOrDefault","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4"},"datePublished":"2024-05-15T20:34:08.960Z","dateModified":"2024-05-15T20:34:08.006Z","description":"Go 1.18 introduced ValOrDefault, which helps initialize default values in a configuration struct. It provides a more concise and readable way to set defaults...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--qPvKM23u--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2009","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--qPvKM23u--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2009","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/valordefault-5fq8neds4","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"golang","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ValOrDefault"}]} ```