Enums in C#

Access an Enum

We can access an enum item using the dot syntax:

Example

using System;
namespace Example {
enum months
{
    // items of the enum
    January,
    February,
    March,
    April,
    May,
    June,
    July
}
public class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine( months.January);
        Console.WriteLine( months.February);
        Console.WriteLine( months.March);
        Console.WriteLine( months.April);
        Console.WriteLine(months.May);
        Console.WriteLine( months.June);
        Console.WriteLine( months.July);
    }
}
}

Output

Get integer values from enum

We have to explicitly convert an item in the enum list to get the integer value associated with that item.

Example

In this example, we will see how to convert the items to an integral value.

using System;
namespace Example {
enum months
{
    // items of the enum
    January,
    February,
    March,
    April,
    May,
    June,
July
}
public class Program{

    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Prints the integer values of the items
        Console.WriteLine("The value of January in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.January);
        Console.WriteLine("The value of February in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.February);
        Console.WriteLine("The value of March in months" + "enum is " + (int)months.March);
        Console.WriteLine("The value of April in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.April);
        Console.WriteLine("The value of May in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.May);
        Console.WriteLine("The value of June in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.June);
Console.WriteLine("The value of June in months " + "enum is " + (int)months.July);
    }
}
}

Output

Let's look at enum rules to understand enums properly.

Enum Rules

• We can assign one integer value to two enum items in an enum.
• The compiler gives integer values to the enum items if we do not assign them. The first item is set to 0, and the compiler increments by one for other items in the enum list.
• We can only assign integer values to the enum items. We can not assign strings as values.

Now, let's move to the FAQs section to clear our doubts regarding enums.

FAQs

1. Why are enums used in C#?
   In C#, an enum (or enumeration type) assigns constant names to a group of numeric integer values. It makes constant values more readable, for example, WeekDays. Monday is more readable than number 0 when referring to the day in a week.
2. Where should enums be defined C#?
   Enums are defined inside a namespace, class, or structure. It is declared using the enum keyword followed by the name of our enum.
3. Can enum have methods C#?
   C# Does not allow the use of methods in enumerators as it is not a class-based principle but rather a two-dimensional array with a string and value.
4. Is the enum value type in C#?
   C# enum is a value type with a set of related constants often referred to as an enumerator list. The C# enum keyword is used to declare an enumeration. It is a primitive data type that is user-defined.
5. Can enums be NULL in C#?
   An enum is a "value" type in C# (means the enum is stored as whatever value it is, not as a reference to a place in memory where the value itself is stored). We can not set value types to null (since null is used for reference types only).

Recommended Topic -  singleton design pattern in c#

Key Takeaways

In this article, we extensively discussed enums in C#. We have seen the syntax of enums and how to use enums in our C # program. We have also seen different values an enum can take. In the end, we discussed the rule of enums. 

To read more about reflection in C#, Visit Here.

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