ref Keyword in c#

Example: Passing Value Type Variable With Reference

using System;

public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
int num = 10;
        Example(ref num); //use ref to pass the parameter by reference 
           
        Console.WriteLine(num);
        Console.ReadLine();
}

public static void Example(ref int n)
    {
        n = 100;
    }   
}

Output:

100

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Run Code

As you can see in the preceding Example, the ProcessNumber() function uses the ref keyword to specify an int parameter. Thus we must use the ref keyword when sending this parameter to ProcessNumber(). It must be given a value before using the ref keyword to supply a variable as an argument. When passing to the method, we must include the ref keyword. Otherwise, a compile-time error will occur.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    int num = 10;
    ProcessNumber(num); //Compile-time Error: Must use ref keyword 
           
    Console.WriteLine(num);
    Console.ReadLine();
}
 
public static void ProcessNumber(ref int n)
{
    n = n + 100;
}

The method can include other parameters with the ref parameter, as shown below.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    int num = 10, val=0;
    ProcessNumber(ref num, val); 
           
    Console.WriteLine(num);
    Console.ReadLine();
}
 
public static void ProcessNumber(ref int n, int val )
{
    n = n + val;
}

Frequently Asked Questions

In C#, what is the purpose of the ref and out keywords?

The ref keyword indicates that the argument given to the method may be changed. The keyword is used to indicate that the parameter provided to the method cannot be changed. out is used to indicate that the method must modify the parameter given.

Why do we use the term "reference"?

In C#, the ref keyword is used to send and return references to and from Methods. Any change made to a value supplied by reference will be reflected because you are changing the deal at the address rather than the value itself.

Is C# ref faster?

No, it does not greatly enhance speed or anything else. On the contrary, employing the ref keyword adds another degree of indirection to the code, which can only slow it down. In most cases, parameters are passed by value, which means they are copied.

Conclusion

Let us brief out the article.

In this article, we study the ref keyword, its use cases, and different Examples for better understanding. That's all from the article.

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