The build command compiles the packages named by the import paths, along with their dependencies, but does not install the results. When compiling packages, the build ignores files ending in '_test.go'.

$ go build [-o output] [-i] [build flags] [packages]
                    

The -o flag, only allowed when building a single package, forces the build to write the resulting executable or object to the named output file, instead of the default behavior described in the last two paragraphs.

The -i flag installs packages that are dependencies on the target.