C#

C# (pronounced see sharp, like the musical note C♯, but written with the number sign)[b] is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language encompassing strong typinglexically scopedimperativedeclarativefunctionalgenericobject-oriented (class-based), and component-oriented programming disciplines. It was developed around 2000 by Microsoft as part of its .NET initiative, and later approved as an international standard by Ecma (ECMA-334) and ISO (ISO/IEC 23270:2018). Mono is the name of the free and open-source project to develop a compiler and runtime for the language. C# is one of the programming languages designed for the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI).

C# was designed by Anders Hejlsberg, and its development team is currently led by Mads Torgersen. The most recent version is 8.0, which was released in 2019 alongside Visual Studio 2019 version 16.3.

Design goals

The Ecma standard lists these design goals for C#:

  • The language is intended to be a simple, modern, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language.
  • The language, and implementations thereof, should provide support for software engineering principles such as strong type checking, array bounds checking, detection of attempts to use uninitialized variables, and automatic garbage collection. Software robustness, durability, and programmer productivity are important.
  • The language is intended for use in developing software components suitable for deployment in distributed environments.
  • Portability is very important for source code and programmers, especially those already familiar with C and C++.
  • Support for internationalization is very important.
  • C# is intended to be suitable for writing applications for both hosted and embedded systems, ranging from the very large that use sophisticated operating systems, down to the very small having dedicated functions.
  • Although C# applications are intended to be economical with regard to memory and processing power requirements, the language was not intended to compete directly on performance and size with C or assembly language

C# is a modern, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft and approved by European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) and International Standards Organization (ISO).

C# was developed by Anders Hejlsberg and his team during the development of .Net Framework.

C# is designed for Common Language Infrastructure (CLI), which consists of the executable code and runtime environment that allows use of various high-level languages on different computer platforms and architectures.

The following reasons make C# a widely used professional language −

  • It is a modern, general-purpose programming language
  • It is object oriented.
  • It is component oriented.
  • It is easy to learn.
  • It is a structured language.
  • It produces efficient programs.
  • It can be compiled on a variety of computer platforms.
  • It is a part of .Net Framework.

Strong Programming Features of C#

Although C# constructs closely follow traditional high-level languages, C and C++ and being an object-oriented programming language. It has strong resemblance with Java, it has numerous strong programming features that make it endearing to a number of programmers worldwide.

Following is the list of few important features of C# −

  • Boolean Conditions
  • Automatic Garbage Collection
  • Standard Library
  • Assembly Versioning
  • Properties and Events
  • Delegates and Events Management
  • Easy-to-use Generics
  • Indexers
  • Conditional Compilation
  • Simple Multithreading
  • LINQ and Lambda Expressions
  • Integration with Windows

The .Net Framework

The .Net framework is a revolutionary platform that helps you to write the following types of applications −

  • Windows applications
  • Web applications
  • Web services

The .Net framework applications are multi-platform applications. The framework has been designed in such a way that it can be used from any of the following languages: C#, C++, Visual Basic, Jscript, COBOL, etc. All these languages can access the framework as well as communicate with each other.

The .Net framework consists of an enormous library of codes used by the client languages such as C#. Following are some of the components of the .Net framework −

  • Common Language Runtime (CLR)
  • The .Net Framework Class Library
  • Common Language Specification
  • Common Type System
  • Metadata and Assemblies
  • Windows Forms
  • ASP.Net and ASP.Net AJAX
  • ADO.Net
  • Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)
  • Windows Presentation Foundation
  • Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
  • LINQ

For the jobs each of these components perform, please see ASP.Net – Introduction, and for details of each component, please consult Microsoft’s documentation.

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for C#

Microsoft provides the following development tools for C# programming −

  • Visual Studio 2010 (VS)
  • Visual C# 2010 Express (VCE)
  • Visual Web Developer

The last two are freely available from Microsoft official website. Using these tools, you can write all kinds of C# programs from simple command-line applications to more complex applications. You can also write C# source code files using a basic text editor, like Notepad, and compile the code into assemblies using the command-line compiler, which is again a part of the .NET Framework.

Visual C# Express and Visual Web Developer Express edition are trimmed down versions of Visual Studio and has the same appearance. They retain most features of Visual Studio. In this tutorial, we have used Visual C# 2010 Express.

You can download it from Microsoft Visual Studio. It gets installed automatically on your machine.

Note: You need an active internet connection for installing the express edition.

Writing C# Programs on Linux or Mac OS

Although the.NET Framework runs on the Windows operating system, there are some alternative versions that work on other operating systems. Mono is an open-source version of the .NET Framework which includes a C# compiler and runs on several operating systems, including various flavors of Linux and Mac OS. Kindly check Go Mono.

The stated purpose of Mono is not only to be able to run Microsoft .NET applications cross-platform, but also to bring better development tools for Linux developers. Mono can be run on many operating systems including Android, BSD, iOS, Linux, OS X, Windows, Solaris, and UNIX.

Creating Hello World Program

A C# program consists of the following parts −

  • Namespace declaration
  • A class
  • Class methods
  • Class attributes
  • A Main method
  • Statements and Expressions
  • Comments

Let us look at a simple code that prints the words “Hello World” −Live Demo

using System;

namespace HelloWorldApplication {
   class HelloWorld {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         /* my first program in C# */
         Console.WriteLine("Hello World");
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

When this code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Hello World

Let us look at the various parts of the given program −

  • The first line of the program using System; – the using keyword is used to include the System namespace in the program. A program generally has multiple using statements.
  • The next line has the namespace declaration. A namespace is a collection of classes. The HelloWorldApplication namespace contains the class HelloWorld.
  • The next line has a class declaration, the class HelloWorld contains the data and method definitions that your program uses. Classes generally contain multiple methods. Methods define the behavior of the class. However, the HelloWorld class has only one method Main.
  • The next line defines the Main method, which is the entry point for all C# programs. The Main method states what the class does when executed.
  • The next line /*…*/ is ignored by the compiler and it is put to add comments in the program.
  • The Main method specifies its behavior with the statement Console.WriteLine(“Hello World”);WriteLine is a method of the Console class defined in the System namespace. This statement causes the message “Hello, World!” to be displayed on the screen.
  • The last line Console.ReadKey(); is for the VS.NET Users. This makes the program wait for a key press and it prevents the screen from running and closing quickly when the program is launched from Visual Studio .NET.

It is worth to note the following points −

  • C# is case sensitive.
  • All statements and expression must end with a semicolon (;).
  • The program execution starts at the Main method.
  • Unlike Java, program file name could be different from the class name.

Compiling and Executing the Program

If you are using Visual Studio.Net for compiling and executing C# programs, take the following steps −

  • Start Visual Studio.
  • On the menu bar, choose File -> New -> Project.
  • Choose Visual C# from templates, and then choose Windows.
  • Choose Console Application.
  • Specify a name for your project and click OK button.
  • This creates a new project in Solution Explorer.
  • Write code in the Code Editor.
  • Click the Run button or press F5 key to execute the project. A Command Prompt window appears that contains the line Hello World.

You can compile a C# program by using the command-line instead of the Visual Studio IDE −

  • Open a text editor and add the above-mentioned code.
  • Save the file as helloworld.cs
  • Open the command prompt tool and go to the directory where you saved the file.
  • Type csc helloworld.cs and press enter to compile your code.
  • If there are no errors in your code, the command prompt takes you to the next line and generates helloworld.exe executable file.
  • Type helloworld to execute your program.
  • You can see the output Hello World printed on the screen.

C# is an object-oriented programming language. In Object-Oriented Programming methodology, a program consists of various objects that interact with each other by means of actions. The actions that an object may take are called methods. Objects of the same kind are said to have the same type or, are said to be in the same class.

For example, let us consider a Rectangle object. It has attributes such as length and width. Depending upon the design, it may need ways for accepting the values of these attributes, calculating the area, and displaying details.

Let us look at implementation of a Rectangle class and discuss C# basic syntax −Live Demo

using System;

namespace RectangleApplication {
   class Rectangle {
      
      // member variables
      double length;
      double width;
      
      public void Acceptdetails() {
         length = 4.5;    
         width = 3.5;
      }
      public double GetArea() {
         return length * width; 
      }
      public void Display() {
         Console.WriteLine("Length: {0}", length);
         Console.WriteLine("Width: {0}", width);
         Console.WriteLine("Area: {0}", GetArea());
      }
   }
   class ExecuteRectangle {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Rectangle r = new Rectangle();
         r.Acceptdetails();
         r.Display();
         Console.ReadLine(); 
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Length: 4.5
Width: 3.5
Area: 15.75

The using Keyword

The first statement in any C# program is

using System;

The using keyword is used for including the namespaces in the program. A program can include multiple using statements.

The class Keyword

The class keyword is used for declaring a class.

Comments in C#

Comments are used for explaining code. Compilers ignore the comment entries. The multiline comments in C# programs start with /* and terminates with the characters */ as shown below −

/* This program demonstrates
The basic syntax of C# programming 
Language */

Single-line comments are indicated by the ‘//’ symbol. For example,

}//end class Rectangle    

Member Variables

Variables are attributes or data members of a class, used for storing data. In the preceding program, the Rectangle class has two member variables named length and width.

Member Functions

Functions are set of statements that perform a specific task. The member functions of a class are declared within the class. Our sample class Rectangle contains three member functions: AcceptDetailsGetArea and Display.

Instantiating a Class

In the preceding program, the class ExecuteRectangle contains the Main() method and instantiates the Rectangle class.

Identifiers

An identifier is a name used to identify a class, variable, function, or any other user-defined item. The basic rules for naming classes in C# are as follows −

  • A name must begin with a letter that could be followed by a sequence of letters, digits (0 – 9) or underscore. The first character in an identifier cannot be a digit.
  • It must not contain any embedded space or symbol such as? – + ! @ # % ^ & * ( ) [ ] { } . ; : ” ‘ / and \. However, an underscore ( _ ) can be used.
  • It should not be a C# keyword.

C# Keywords

Keywords are reserved words predefined to the C# compiler. These keywords cannot be used as identifiers. However, if you want to use these keywords as identifiers, you may prefix the keyword with the @ character.

In C#, some identifiers have special meaning in context of code, such as get and set are called contextual keywords.

The following table lists the reserved keywords and contextual keywords in C# −

Reserved Keywords
abstractasbaseboolbreakbytecase
catchcharcheckedclassconstcontinuedecimal
defaultdelegatedodoubleelseenumevent
explicitexternfalsefinallyfixedfloatfor
foreachgotoifimplicitinin (generic modifier)int
interfaceinternalislocklongnamespacenew
nullobjectoperatoroutout (generic modifier)overrideparams
privateprotectedpublicreadonlyrefreturnsbyte
sealedshortsizeofstackallocstaticstringstruct
switchthisthrowtruetrytypeofuint
ulonguncheckedunsafeushortusingvirtualvoid
volatilewhile
Contextual Keywords
addaliasascendingdescendingdynamicfromget
globalgroupintojoinletorderbypartial (type)
partial
(method)
removeselectset

The variables in C#, are categorized into the following types −

  • Value types
  • Reference types
  • Pointer types

Value Type

Value type variables can be assigned a value directly. They are derived from the class System.ValueType.

The value types directly contain data. Some examples are int, char, and float, which stores numbers, alphabets, and floating point numbers, respectively. When you declare an int type, the system allocates memory to store the value.

The following table lists the available value types in C# 2010 −

TypeRepresentsRangeDefault Value
boolBoolean valueTrue or FalseFalse
byte8-bit unsigned integer0 to 2550
char16-bit Unicode characterU +0000 to U +ffff‘\0’
decimal128-bit precise decimal values with 28-29 significant digits(-7.9 x 1028 to 7.9 x 1028) / 100 to 280.0M
double64-bit double-precision floating point type(+/-)5.0 x 10-324 to (+/-)1.7 x 103080.0D
float32-bit single-precision floating point type-3.4 x 1038 to + 3.4 x 10380.0F
int32-bit signed integer type-2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,6470
long64-bit signed integer type-9,223,372,036,854,775,808 to 9,223,372,036,854,775,8070L
sbyte8-bit signed integer type-128 to 1270
short16-bit signed integer type-32,768 to 32,7670
uint32-bit unsigned integer type0 to 4,294,967,2950
ulong64-bit unsigned integer type0 to 18,446,744,073,709,551,6150
ushort16-bit unsigned integer type0 to 65,5350

To get the exact size of a type or a variable on a particular platform, you can use the sizeof method. The expression sizeof(type) yields the storage size of the object or type in bytes. Following is an example to get the size of int type on any machine −Live Demo

using System;

namespace DataTypeApplication {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Console.WriteLine("Size of int: {0}", sizeof(int));
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Size of int: 4

Reference Type

The reference types do not contain the actual data stored in a variable, but they contain a reference to the variables.

In other words, they refer to a memory location. Using multiple variables, the reference types can refer to a memory location. If the data in the memory location is changed by one of the variables, the other variable automatically reflects this change in value. Example of built-in reference types are: objectdynamic, and string.

Object Type

The Object Type is the ultimate base class for all data types in C# Common Type System (CTS). Object is an alias for System.Object class. The object types can be assigned values of any other types, value types, reference types, predefined or user-defined types. However, before assigning values, it needs type conversion.

When a value type is converted to object type, it is called boxing and on the other hand, when an object type is converted to a value type, it is called unboxing.

object obj;
obj = 100; // this is boxing

Dynamic Type

You can store any type of value in the dynamic data type variable. Type checking for these types of variables takes place at run-time.

Syntax for declaring a dynamic type is −

dynamic <variable_name> = value;

For example,

dynamic d = 20;

Dynamic types are similar to object types except that type checking for object type variables takes place at compile time, whereas that for the dynamic type variables takes place at run time.

String Type

The String Type allows you to assign any string values to a variable. The string type is an alias for the System.String class. It is derived from object type. The value for a string type can be assigned using string literals in two forms: quoted and @quoted.

For example,

String str = "Tutorials Point";

A @quoted string literal looks as follows −

@"Tutorials Point";

The user-defined reference types are: class, interface, or delegate. We will discuss these types in later chapter.

Pointer Type

Pointer type variables store the memory address of another type. Pointers in C# have the same capabilities as the pointers in C or C++.

Syntax for declaring a pointer type is −

type* identifier;

For example,

char* cptr;
int* iptr;

Type conversion is converting one type of data to another type. It is also known as Type Casting. In C#, type casting has two forms −

  • Implicit type conversion − These conversions are performed by C# in a type-safe manner. For example, are conversions from smaller to larger integral types and conversions from derived classes to base classes.
  • Explicit type conversion − These conversions are done explicitly by users using the pre-defined functions. Explicit conversions require a cast operator.

The following example shows an explicit type conversion −Live Demo

using System;

namespace TypeConversionApplication {
   class ExplicitConversion {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         double d = 5673.74; 
         int i;
         
         // cast double to int.
         i = (int)d;
         Console.WriteLine(i);
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

5673

C# Type Conversion Methods

C# provides the following built-in type conversion methods −

Sr.No.Methods & Description
1ToBooleanConverts a type to a Boolean value, where possible.
2ToByteConverts a type to a byte.
3ToCharConverts a type to a single Unicode character, where possible.
4ToDateTimeConverts a type (integer or string type) to date-time structures.
5ToDecimalConverts a floating point or integer type to a decimal type.
6ToDoubleConverts a type to a double type.
7ToInt16Converts a type to a 16-bit integer.
8ToInt32Converts a type to a 32-bit integer.
9ToInt64Converts a type to a 64-bit integer.
10ToSbyteConverts a type to a signed byte type.
11ToSingleConverts a type to a small floating point number.
12ToStringConverts a type to a string.
13ToTypeConverts a type to a specified type.
14ToUInt16Converts a type to an unsigned int type.
15ToUInt32Converts a type to an unsigned long type.
16ToUInt64Converts a type to an unsigned big integer.

The following example converts various value types to string type −Live Demo

using System;

namespace TypeConversionApplication {
   class StringConversion {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         int i = 75;
         float f = 53.005f;
         double d = 2345.7652;
         bool b = true;

         Console.WriteLine(i.ToString());
         Console.WriteLine(f.ToString());
         Console.WriteLine(d.ToString());
         Console.WriteLine(b.ToString());
         Console.ReadKey();
            
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

75
53.005
2345.7652
True

A variable is nothing but a name given to a storage area that our programs can manipulate. Each variable in C# has a specific type, which determines the size and layout of the variable’s memory the range of values that can be stored within that memory and the set of operations that can be applied to the variable.

The basic value types provided in C# can be categorized as −

TypeExample
Integral typessbyte, byte, short, ushort, int, uint, long, ulong, and char
Floating point typesfloat and double
Decimal typesdecimal
Boolean typestrue or false values, as assigned
Nullable typesNullable data types

C# also allows defining other value types of variable such as enum and reference types of variables such as class, which we will cover in subsequent chapters.

Defining Variables

Syntax for variable definition in C# is −

<data_type> <variable_list>;

Here, data_type must be a valid C# data type including char, int, float, double, or any user-defined data type, and variable_list may consist of one or more identifier names separated by commas.

Some valid variable definitions are shown here −

int i, j, k;
char c, ch;
float f, salary;
double d;

You can initialize a variable at the time of definition as −

int i = 100;

Initializing Variables

Variables are initialized (assigned a value) with an equal sign followed by a constant expression. The general form of initialization is −

variable_name = value;

Variables can be initialized in their declaration. The initializer consists of an equal sign followed by a constant expression as −

<data_type> <variable_name> = value;

Some examples are −

int d = 3, f = 5;    /* initializing d and f. */
byte z = 22;         /* initializes z. */
double pi = 3.14159; /* declares an approximation of pi. */
char x = 'x';        /* the variable x has the value 'x'. */

It is a good programming practice to initialize variables properly, otherwise sometimes program may produce unexpected result.

The following example uses various types of variables −Live Demo

using System;

namespace VariableDefinition {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         short a;
         int b ;
         double c;

         /* actual initialization */
         a = 10;
         b = 20;
         c = a + b;
         Console.WriteLine("a = {0}, b = {1}, c = {2}", a, b, c);
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

a = 10, b = 20, c = 30

Accepting Values from User

The Console class in the System namespace provides a function ReadLine() for accepting input from the user and store it into a variable.

For example,

int num;
num = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());

The function Convert.ToInt32() converts the data entered by the user to int data type, because Console.ReadLine() accepts the data in string format.

Lvalue and Rvalue Expressions in C#

There are two kinds of expressions in C# −

  • lvalue − An expression that is an lvalue may appear as either the left-hand or right-hand side of an assignment.
  • rvalue − An expression that is an rvalue may appear on the right- but not left-hand side of an assignment.

Variables are lvalues and hence they may appear on the left-hand side of an assignment. Numeric literals are rvalues and hence they may not be assigned and can not appear on the left-hand side. Following is a valid C# statement −

int g = 20;

But following is not a valid statement and would generate compile-time error −

10 = 20;

The constants refer to fixed values that the program may not alter during its execution. These fixed values are also called literals. Constants can be of any of the basic data types like an integer constant, a floating constant, a character constant, or a string literal. There are also enumeration constants as well.

The constants are treated just like regular variables except that their values cannot be modified after their definition.

Integer Literals

An integer literal can be a decimal, or hexadecimal constant. A prefix specifies the base or radix: 0x or 0X for hexadecimal, and there is no prefix id for decimal.

An integer literal can also have a suffix that is a combination of U and L, for unsigned and long, respectively. The suffix can be uppercase or lowercase and can be in any order.

Here are some examples of integer literals −

212         /* Legal */
215u        /* Legal */
0xFeeL      /* Legal */

Following are other examples of various types of Integer literals −

85         /* decimal */
0x4b       /* hexadecimal */
30         /* int */
30u        /* unsigned int */
30l        /* long */
30ul       /* unsigned long */

Floating-point Literals

A floating-point literal has an integer part, a decimal point, a fractional part, and an exponent part. You can represent floating point literals either in decimal form or exponential form.

Here are some examples of floating-point literals −

3.14159       /* Legal */
314159E-5F    /* Legal */
510E          /* Illegal: incomplete exponent */
210f          /* Illegal: no decimal or exponent */
.e55          /* Illegal: missing integer or fraction */

While representing in decimal form, you must include the decimal point, the exponent, or both; and while representing using exponential form you must include the integer part, the fractional part, or both. The signed exponent is introduced by e or E.

Character Constants

Character literals are enclosed in single quotes. For example, ‘x’ and can be stored in a simple variable of char type. A character literal can be a plain character (such as ‘x’), an escape sequence (such as ‘\t’), or a universal character (such as ‘\u02C0’).

There are certain characters in C# when they are preceded by a backslash. They have special meaning and they are used to represent like newline (\n) or tab (\t). Here, is a list of some of such escape sequence codes −

Escape sequenceMeaning
\\\ character
\’‘ character
\”” character
\?? character
\aAlert or bell
\bBackspace
\fForm feed
\nNewline
\rCarriage return
\tHorizontal tab
\vVertical tab
\xhh . . .Hexadecimal number of one or more digits

Following is the example to show few escape sequence characters −Live Demo

using System;

namespace EscapeChar {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Console.WriteLine("Hello\tWorld\n\n");
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Hello   World

String Literals

String literals or constants are enclosed in double quotes “” or with @””. A string contains characters that are similar to character literals: plain characters, escape sequences, and universal characters.

You can break a long line into multiple lines using string literals and separating the parts using whitespaces.

Here are some examples of string literals. All the three forms are identical strings.

"hello, dear"
"hello, \
dear"
"hello, " "d" "ear"
@"hello dear"

Defining Constants

Constants are defined using the const keyword. Syntax for defining a constant is −

const <data_type> <constant_name> = value;

The following program demonstrates defining and using a constant in your program −Live Demo

using System;

namespace DeclaringConstants {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         const double pi = 3.14159;   
            
         // constant declaration 
         double r;
         Console.WriteLine("Enter Radius: ");
         r = Convert.ToDouble(Console.ReadLine());
            
         double areaCircle = pi * r * r;
         Console.WriteLine("Radius: {0}, Area: {1}", r, areaCircle);
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

Enter Radius: 
3
Radius: 3, Area: 28.27431

An operator is a symbol that tells the compiler to perform specific mathematical or logical manipulations. C# has rich set of built-in operators and provides the following type of operators −

  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Relational Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Assignment Operators
  • Misc Operators

This tutorial explains the arithmetic, relational, logical, bitwise, assignment, and other operators one by one.

Arithmetic Operators

Following table shows all the arithmetic operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20 then −

Show Examples

OperatorDescriptionExample
+Adds two operandsA + B = 30
Subtracts second operand from the firstA – B = -10
*Multiplies both operandsA * B = 200
/Divides numerator by de-numeratorB / A = 2
%Modulus Operator and remainder of after an integer divisionB % A = 0
++Increment operator increases integer value by oneA++ = 11
Decrement operator decreases integer value by oneA– = 9

Relational Operators

Following table shows all the relational operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds 10 and variable B holds 20, then −

Show Examples

OperatorDescriptionExample
==Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes then condition becomes true.(A == B) is not true.
!=Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then condition becomes true.(A != B) is true.
>Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A > B) is not true.
<Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A < B) is true.
>=Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A >= B) is not true.
<=Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.(A <= B) is true.

Logical Operators

Following table shows all the logical operators supported by C#. Assume variable A holds Boolean value true and variable B holds Boolean value false, then −

Show Examples

OperatorDescriptionExample
&&Called Logical AND operator. If both the operands are non zero then condition becomes true.(A && B) is false.
||Called Logical OR Operator. If any of the two operands is non zero then condition becomes true.(A || B) is true.
!Called Logical NOT Operator. Use to reverses the logical state of its operand. If a condition is true then Logical NOT operator will make false.!(A && B) is true.

Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operator works on bits and perform bit by bit operation. The truth tables for &, |, and ^ are as follows −

pqp & qp | qp ^ q
00000
01011
11110
10011

Assume if A = 60; and B = 13; then in the binary format they are as follows −

A = 0011 1100

B = 0000 1101

——————-

A&B = 0000 1100

A|B = 0011 1101

A^B = 0011 0001

~A  = 1100 0011

The Bitwise operators supported by C# are listed in the following table. Assume variable A holds 60 and variable B holds 13, then −

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OperatorDescriptionExample
&Binary AND Operator copies a bit to the result if it exists in both operands.(A & B) = 12, which is 0000 1100
|Binary OR Operator copies a bit if it exists in either operand.(A | B) = 61, which is 0011 1101
^Binary XOR Operator copies the bit if it is set in one operand but not both.(A ^ B) = 49, which is 0011 0001
~Binary Ones Complement Operator is unary and has the effect of ‘flipping’ bits.(~A ) = -61, which is 1100 0011 in 2’s complement due to a signed binary number.
<<Binary Left Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand.A << 2 = 240, which is 1111 0000
>>Binary Right Shift Operator. The left operands value is moved right by the number of bits specified by the right operand.A >> 2 = 15, which is 0000 1111

Assignment Operators

There are following assignment operators supported by C# −

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OperatorDescriptionExample
=Simple assignment operator, Assigns values from right side operands to left side operandC = A + B assigns value of A + B into C
+=Add AND assignment operator, It adds right operand to the left operand and assign the result to left operandC += A is equivalent to C = C + A
-=Subtract AND assignment operator, It subtracts right operand from the left operand and assign the result to left operandC -= A is equivalent to C = C – A
*=Multiply AND assignment operator, It multiplies right operand with the left operand and assign the result to left operandC *= A is equivalent to C = C * A
/=Divide AND assignment operator, It divides left operand with the right operand and assign the result to left operandC /= A is equivalent to C = C / A
%=Modulus AND assignment operator, It takes modulus using two operands and assign the result to left operandC %= A is equivalent to C = C % A
<<=Left shift AND assignment operatorC <<= 2 is same as C = C << 2
>>=Right shift AND assignment operatorC >>= 2 is same as C = C >> 2
&=Bitwise AND assignment operatorC &= 2 is same as C = C & 2
^=bitwise exclusive OR and assignment operatorC ^= 2 is same as C = C ^ 2
|=bitwise inclusive OR and assignment operatorC |= 2 is same as C = C | 2

Miscellaneous Operators

There are few other important operators including sizeof, typeof and ? : supported by C#.

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OperatorDescriptionExample
sizeof()Returns the size of a data type.sizeof(int), returns 4.
typeof()Returns the type of a class.typeof(StreamReader);
&Returns the address of an variable.&a; returns actual address of the variable.
*Pointer to a variable.*a; creates pointer named ‘a’ to a variable.
? :Conditional ExpressionIf Condition is true ? Then value X : Otherwise value Y
isDetermines whether an object is of a certain type.If( Ford is Car) // checks if Ford is an object of the Car class.
asCast without raising an exception if the cast fails.Object obj = new StringReader(“Hello”);StringReader r = obj as StringReader;

Operator Precedence in C#

Operator precedence determines the grouping of terms in an expression. This affects evaluation of an expression. Certain operators have higher precedence than others; for example, the multiplication operator has higher precedence than the addition operator.

For example x = 7 + 3 * 2; here, x is assigned 13, not 20 because operator * has higher precedence than +, so the first evaluation takes place for 3*2 and then 7 is added into it.

Here, operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with the lowest appear at the bottom. Within an expression, higher precedence operators are evaluated first.

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CategoryOperatorAssociativity
Postfix() [] -> . ++ – –Left to right
Unary+ – ! ~ ++ – – (type)* & sizeofRight to left
Multiplicative* / %Left to right
Additive+ –Left to right
Shift<< >>Left to right
Relational< <= > >=Left to right
Equality== !=Left to right
Bitwise AND&Left to right
Bitwise XOR^Left to right
Bitwise OR|Left to right
Logical AND&&Left to right
Logical OR||Left to right
Conditional?:Right to left
Assignment= += -= *= /= %=>>= <<= &= ^= |=Right to left
Comma,Left to right