# Maps in Go

> Learn how to use maps in Go, the dictionary or hash map type. Create one with make, add and read values by key, and remove items with delete().

Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2022-09-14 | Topics: [Go](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/go/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/golang-maps/

A map is a very useful data type in Go.

In other language it’s also called *dictionary* or *hash map* or *associative array*.

Here’s how you create a map:

```go
agesMap := make(map[string]int)
```

You don’t need to set how many items the map will hold.

You can add a new item to the map in this way:

```go
agesMap["flavio"] = 39
```

You can also initialize the map with values directly using this syntax:

```go
agesMap := map[string]int{"flavio": 39}
```

You can get the value associated with a key using:

```go
age := agesMap["flavio"]
```

You can delete an item from the map using the `delete()` function in this way:

```go
delete(agesMap, "flavio")
```