Enums in C#

 

Enum:

v An enum is a collection of named integer constants.

 

v To create an enum, use the enum keyword.

 

v Enum is short for "enumerations", which means "specifically listed".

 

v By default, the associated constant values of enum members are of type int and the approved types are byte, sbyte, short, ushort, uint, long, and ulong.

 

v Enums are not for end-users, they are meant for developers.

 

v Enum values are fixed. Enum can be displayed as a string and processed as an integer.

 

v An explicit cast is required to convert from enum type to an integral type.

 

v Enums are value types and are created on the stack and not on the heap.

 

v Enum constants has default values which starts from 0 and incremented to one by one. But we can change the default value.

 

v We can only assign integral values to the enum names. We should not assign strings as values.

Enum in C# can be declared within or outside class and structs.

 

Enum Syntax:

The syntax for an enum is given as follows:

 

AccessSpecifier enum NameOfEnum

{

     // The enumerator list separated by comma (,)

};

 

In the above syntax,

The keyword enum is used to create an enumeration with the name NameOfEnum.

 

Then the enumeration list is available within curly braces separated by comma (,) in the enum body.

 

 The value of the first identifier in the enumerator list is zero by default.

 

 

Advantages of Enums:

Enumerations (Enums) make your code more readable understandable and reduce complexity.