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Enums

Enums define a named set of constant values. They are declared at the namespace level alongside classes.

Declaration​

namespace Demo {
    public enum Direction {
        North,
        South,
        East,
        West
    }
}

Using enum values​

Reference members through the enum type name:

Direction d = Direction.North;

Enums as field, parameter, and return types​

public class Navigator {
    public static Direction Last;

    public static Direction Echo(Direction value) {
        Last = value;
        return Last;
    }
}

Equality​

Enum values support == and !=. Both operands must be the same enum type:

if (d == Direction.North) {
    System.Console.WriteLine("Heading north");
}

Printing​

Enum values can be passed directly to Console.Write and Console.WriteLine, which will print the member name:

System.Console.WriteLine(Direction.North);   // prints: North

Using directives​

With using System; at the top of the file, you can shorten System.Console to just Console:

using System;

namespace Demo {
    public enum Mode { Scan, Dump }

    public class Program {
        public static void Main(string[] args) {
            Mode m = Mode.Scan;
            Console.Write(m);          // prints: Scan
            Console.WriteLine(m == Mode.Scan);  // prints: true
        }
    }
}