Managing Cancellation with context.WithTimeout

Snippet

Managing Cancellation with context.WithTimeout

The context package is essential for managing the lifecycle and cancellation of concurrent processes. WithTimeout creates a derived context that automatically cancels itself after a specified duration, preventing goroutines from running indefinitely.

snippet.go
go
func fetchData(ctx context.Context) {
	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 2*time.Second)
	defer cancel()
 
	select {
	case <-time.After(3 * time.Second):
		fmt.Println("Finished task")
	case <-ctx.Done():
		fmt.Println("Cancelled:", ctx.Err())
	}
}

Breakdown

context.WithTimeout(ctx, 2*time.Second)

Creates a context that expires after 2 seconds.

defer cancel()

Ensures resources are released as soon as the function returns.

case <-ctx.Done():

Receives a signal when the timeout is reached or cancel is called.

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Managing Cancellation with context.WithTimeout

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