How to implement a queue in Golang

The simplest way to implement the queue data structure in Golang is to use a slice. Since a queue follows a FIFO (First-In-First-Out) structure, the dequeue and enqueue operations can be performed as follows:

  • Use the built-in append function to enqueue.
  • Slice off the first element to dequeue.

The diagram below illustrates these two operations:

svg viewer

Code

The following code snippet implements a basic queue using a slice. Note how enqueuing and dequeuing occur at opposite ends of the slice.

package main
import "fmt"
func enqueue(queue[] int, element int) []int {
  queue = append(queue, element); // Simply append to enqueue.
  fmt.Println("Enqueued:", element);
  return queue
}
func dequeue(queue[] int) ([]int) {
  if len(queue) == 0 {
        fmt.Println("Cannot dequeue from an empty queue")
        return queue
  }
  element := queue[0]; // The first element is the one to be dequeued.
  fmt.Println("Dequeued:", element)
  return queue[1:]; // Slice off the element once it is dequeued.
}
func main() {
  var queue[] int; // Make a queue of ints.
  queue = enqueue(queue, 10);
  queue = enqueue(queue, 20);
  queue = enqueue(queue, 30);
  fmt.Println("Queue:", queue);
  queue = dequeue(queue);
  fmt.Println("Queue:", queue);
  queue = enqueue(queue, 40);
  fmt.Println("Queue:", queue);
}

Warning(memory-leaks): In the dequeue function above, the memory allocated for the first element in the array is never returned.

We can use dynamic data structure(linked list) in order to avoid memory leaks. The sample code is given below:

package main

import "container/list"

import "fmt"



func main() {

    // new linked list

    queue := list.New()



    // Simply append to enqueue.

    queue.PushBack(10)

    queue.PushBack(20)

    queue.PushBack(30)



    // Dequeue

    front:=queue.Front()

    fmt.Println(front.Value)

    // This will remove the allocated memory and avoid memory leaks

    queue.Remove(front)

}
New on Educative
Learn any Language for FREE all September 🎉
For the entire month of September, get unlimited access to our entire catalog of beginner coding resources.
🎁 G i v e a w a y
30 Days of Code
Complete Educative’s daily coding challenge every day in September, and win exciting Prizes.

Free Resources

Copyright ©2025 Educative, Inc. All rights reserved