当存储在指针中时，切片的 `reflect.Kind()` 变成了 `Struct`

Question

When checking the reflect.Kind() of a slice, reflect correctly identifies it as a slice when not stored inside a pointer:

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
)

type Dog struct {
    Name string
    Age  int
}

func main() {
    var dogs []Dog
    rDogs := reflect.ValueOf(dogs)
    fmt.Println(rDogs.Kind())
}

Output:

slice

However, when a slice is stored inside a pointer, reflect.Kind() identifies it as a struct :

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "reflect"
)

type Dog struct {
    Name string
    Age  int
}

func main() {
    dogs1 := make([]Dog, 0)
    pointer := &dogs1
    printPointerValueKind(pointer)        

    var dogs2 []Dog
    pointer = &dogs2
    printPointerValueKind(pointer)
}

func printPointerValueKind(pointer interface{}) {
    if pointer != nil {
        rPointer := reflect.ValueOf(pointer)

        if rPointer.Kind() == reflect.Ptr {
            value := rPointer.Elem()
            rValue := reflect.ValueOf(value)
            fmt.Println(rValue.Kind())
        }
    }
}       

Output:

struct
struct

My questions are:

1. Why does this happen?

2. Is there a way to store a slice inside a pointer and still have reflect.Kind() identify it as a slice ?

Answer 1

1 . (reflect.Value).Elem() returns a reflect.Value , which is a struct, and which does not need to be passed to reflect.ValueOf again if you're looking for the kind of the type that the value holds.

2 . rPointer.Elem().Kind() should be enough for what you need.