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This code doesn't actually compile. You can't assign v to x.(type) like that.

Are you sure? http://play.golang.org/p/dJC328-rh8

I did have to put "return x" as the last statement, though, not return v. And I'm not sure I'm happy about an "abs" that happily returns a string if fed a string, but, well, that's Go.

Relevant bit of the spec: http://golang.org/ref/spec#Type_switches

It's horrible method with a horrible signature, that I didn't test :-)

But the short variable declaration in the type switch does indeed save the casts the OP was complaining about.

Even more correct and horrible: http://play.golang.org/p/ZMQKQhuUQT

Yes, the return statement was what I was referring to. You can't use a type switch to do some sort of an implicit conversion that exists outside of the switch statement.

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