Introduction

Chatbots are computer programs that simulate conversations with users. They are widely used in customer support, information retrieval, and entertainment.
This program demonstrates how to create a simple chatbot in Go that responds to user inputs with predefined replies.

Objective

The objective of this project is to build a console-based chatbot that can respond to user queries dynamically using basic input handling and conditional logic.
This project introduces learners to Go’s string manipulation and standard input/output capabilities.

Code

package main

import (
	"bufio"
	"fmt"
	"os"
	"strings"
)

func main() {
	fmt.Println("Welcome to GoBot!")
	fmt.Println("You can ask me simple questions like 'How are you?' or 'What is your name?'. Type 'exit' to quit.")

	// Scanner for reading user input
	reader := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin)

	for {
		fmt.Print("\nYou: ")
		input, err := reader.ReadString('\n')
		if err != nil {
			fmt.Println("Error reading input. Please try again.")
			continue
		}

		// Clean up the input
		input = strings.TrimSpace(strings.ToLower(input))

		// Exit condition
		if input == "exit" {
			fmt.Println("GoBot: Goodbye! Have a great day!")
			break
		}

		// Respond to user input
		switch input {
		case "hello", "hi":
			fmt.Println("GoBot: Hello! How can I assist you today?")
		case "how are you":
			fmt.Println("GoBot: I'm just a bot, but I'm doing great! How about you?")
		case "what is your name":
			fmt.Println("GoBot: My name is GoBot. I'm here to help you!")
		case "what can you do":
			fmt.Println("GoBot: I can chat with you and respond to some basic questions. Try asking 'How are you?' or 'What is your name?'.")
		default:
			fmt.Println("GoBot: I'm sorry, I don't understand that. Can you try asking something else?")
		}
	}
}

            

Explanation

The program structure is as follows:

• User Input: The program uses bufio.NewReader to read user input from the console. Input is processed using string manipulation functions to handle variations in capitalization and spacing.
• Chatbot Responses: A switch statement is used to match user input with predefined questions or commands. Responses are provided for specific queries, and a fallback response handles unrecognized inputs.
• Exit Condition: Typing “exit” ends the chatbot session gracefully, displaying a farewell message.

How to Run the Program

1. Ensure you have Go installed on your system. You can download it from
   Go’s official website.
2. Save the code in a file named simple_chatbot.go.
3. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory containing the file.
4. Run the program with the following command:

   go run simple_chatbot.go

5. Start chatting with the bot by typing your queries. Type “exit” to quit the program.