time.Tick() Function in Golang With Examples

In Go language, time packages supplies functionality for determining as well as viewing time. The Tick() function in Go language is a utility wrapper for NewTicker function. It only allows access to the ticking channel. In addition, Tick is beneficial for clients who don’t require to shut down the Ticker. And Tick method returns nil if the duration stated is less than or equal to 0. Moreover, this function is defined under the time package. Here, you need to import the “time” package in order to use these functions.

Syntax:

func Tick(d Duration) <-chan Time

Here, d is the duration of time for ticker to tick, and chan is the ticking channel.

Note: Tickers are used to do something frequently at regular intervals of the stated time.

Return Value: It returns current date and actual time after regular interval of time. And returns nil if d <= 0.

Example 1:

// Golang program to illustrate the usage of
// Tick() function

// Including main package
package main

// Importing fmt and time
import (
    "fmt"
    "time"
)

// Defining UTCtime
func UTCtime() string {
    return ""
}

// Main function
func main() {

    // Calling Tick method
    // using range keyword
    for tick := range time.Tick(3 * time.Second) {

        // Prints UTC time and date
        fmt.Println(tick, UTCtime())
    }
}

Output:

2020-04-02 03:16:22.27131713 +0000 UTC m=+3.000249815 
2020-04-02 03:16:25.271334601 +0000 UTC m=+6.000267330 
2020-04-02 03:16:28.271312516 +0000 UTC m=+9.000245191 
2020-04-02 03:16:31.271369788 +0000 UTC m=+12.000302595 
2020-04-02 03:16:34.271309254 +0000 UTC m=+15.000241952 
2020-04-02 03:16:37.271324182 +0000 UTC m=+18.000256858 
2020-04-02 03:16:40.271322789 +0000 UTC m=+21.000255504 
2020-04-02 03:16:43.271295568 +0000 UTC m=+24.000228305......so on

Here, we have used the range keyword in order to iterate over the channel. Here, the current date and time are returned after a regular interval of time. So, the output is different at different runs. And here the loop doesn’t stops until you terminate it.

Example 2:

// Golang program to illustrate the usage of
// Tick() function
// Including main package
package main

// Importing fmt and time
import (
    "fmt"
    "time"
)

// Defining UTCtime
func UTCtime() string {
    return ""
}

// Main function
func main() {

    // Calling Tick method using range
    // keyword
    for tick := range time.Tick(-1 * time.Second) {

        // Prints UTC time and date
        fmt.Println(tick, UTCtime())
    }
}

Output:

fatal error: all goroutines are asleep - deadlock!

goroutine 1 [chan receive (nil chan)]:
main.main()
    /home/runner/SociableInsubstantialCommunication/main.go:23 +0x149

Here, in the above code, the duration stated is negative so, nil is returned and the error occurs.