How can you enumerate an enum in C#?
E.g. the following code does not compile:
public enum Suit
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds
}
public void EnumerateAllSuitsDemoMethod()
{
foreach (Suit suit in Suit)
{
DoSomething(suit);
}
}
And it gives the following compile-time error:
'Suit' is a 'type' but is used like a 'variable'
It fails on the Suit keyword, the second one.
foreach (Suit suit in (Suit[]) Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)))
{
}
Note: The cast to (Suit[]) is not strictly necessary, but it does make the code 0.5 ns faster.
It looks to me like you really want to print out the names of each enum, rather than the values. In which case Enum.GetNames() seems to be the right approach.
public enum Suits
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds,
NumSuits
}
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach (string name in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits)))
{
System.Console.WriteLine(name);
}
}
By the way, incrementing the value is not a good way to enumerate the values of an enum. You should do this instead.
I would use Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)) instead.
public enum Suits
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds,
NumSuits
}
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach (var suit in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suits)))
{
System.Console.WriteLine(suit.ToString());
}
}
I made some extensions for easy enum usage. Maybe someone can use it...
public static class EnumExtensions
{
/// <summary>
/// Gets all items for an enum value.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>(this Enum value)
{
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets all items for an enum type.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>() where T : struct
{
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Gets all combined items from an enum value.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <returns></returns>
/// <example>
/// Displays ValueA and ValueB.
/// <code>
/// EnumExample dummy = EnumExample.Combi;
/// foreach (var item in dummy.GetAllSelectedItems<EnumExample>())
/// {
/// Console.WriteLine(item);
/// }
/// </code>
/// </example>
public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllSelectedItems<T>(this Enum value)
{
int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
int itemAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(item, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
if (itemAsInt == (valueAsInt & itemAsInt))
{
yield return (T)item;
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Determines whether the enum value contains a specific value.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="value">The value.</param>
/// <param name="request">The request.</param>
/// <returns>
/// <c>true</c> if value contains the specified value; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
/// </returns>
/// <example>
/// <code>
/// EnumExample dummy = EnumExample.Combi;
/// if (dummy.Contains<EnumExample>(EnumExample.ValueA))
/// {
/// Console.WriteLine("dummy contains EnumExample.ValueA");
/// }
/// </code>
/// </example>
public static bool Contains<T>(this Enum value, T request)
{
int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
int requestAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(request, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
if (requestAsInt == (valueAsInt & requestAsInt))
{
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
The enum itself must be decorated with the FlagsAttribute:
[Flags]
public enum EnumExample
{
ValueA = 1,
ValueB = 2,
ValueC = 4,
ValueD = 8,
Combi = ValueA | ValueB
}
.NET 5 has introduced a new generic version for the GetValues method:
Suit[] suitValues = Enum.GetValues<Suit>();
Which is now by far the most convenient way of doing this.
Usage in a foreach loop:
foreach (Suit suit in Enum.GetValues<Suit>())
{
}
And if you just need the enum names as strings, you can use the generic GetNames method:
string[] suitNames = Enum.GetNames<Suit>();
public void PrintAllSuits()
{
foreach(string suit in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Suits)))
{
Console.WriteLine(suit);
}
}
If you need speed and type checking at build and run time, this helper method is better than using LINQ to cast each element:
public static T[] GetEnumValues<T>() where T : struct, IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible
{
if (typeof(T).BaseType != typeof(Enum))
{
throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("{0} is not of type System.Enum", typeof(T)));
}
return Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)) as T[];
}
And you can use it like below:
static readonly YourEnum[] _values = GetEnumValues<YourEnum>();
Of course you can return IEnumerable<T>, but that buys you nothing here.
enum types are called "enumeration types" not because they are containers that "enumerate" values (which they aren't), but because they are defined by enumerating the possible values for a variable of that type.
(Actually, that's a bit more complicated than that - enum types are considered to have an "underlying" integer type, which means each enum value corresponds to an integer value (this is typically implicit, but can be manually specified). C# was designed in a way so that you could stuff any integer of that type into the enum variable, even if it isn't a "named" value.)
The System.Enum.GetNames method can be used to retrieve an array of strings which are the names of the enum values, as the name suggests.
EDIT: Should have suggested the System.Enum.GetValues method instead. Oops.
For getting a list of int from an enum, use the following. It works!
List<int> listEnumValues = new List<int>();
YourEnumType[] myEnumMembers = (YourEnumType[])Enum.GetValues(typeof(YourEnumType));
foreach ( YourEnumType enumMember in myEnumMembers)
{
listEnumValues.Add(enumMember.GetHashCode());
}
When you have a bit enum like this
enum DemoFlags
{
DemoFlag = 1,
OtherFlag = 2,
TestFlag = 4,
LastFlag = 8,
}
With this assignement
DemoFlags demoFlags = DemoFlags.DemoFlag | DemoFlags.TestFlag;
and need a result like this
"DemoFlag | TestFlag"
this method helps:
public static string ConvertToEnumString<T>(T enumToConvert, string separator = " | ") where T : Enum
{
StringBuilder convertedEnums = new StringBuilder();
foreach (T enumValue in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
{
if (enumToConvert.HasFlag(enumValue)) convertedEnums.Append($"{ enumValue }{separator}");
}
if (convertedEnums.Length > 0) convertedEnums.Length -= separator.Length;
return convertedEnums.ToString();
}
If you have:
enum Suit
{
Spades,
Hearts,
Clubs,
Diamonds
}
This:
foreach (var e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)))
{
Console.WriteLine(e.ToString() + " = " + (int)e);
}
Will output:
Spades = 0
Hearts = 1
Clubs = 2
Diamonds = 3
LINQ Generic Way:
public static Dictionary<int, string> ToList<T>() where T : struct =>
((IEnumerable<T>)Enum.GetValues(typeof(T))).ToDictionary(value => Convert.ToInt32(value), value => value.ToString());
Usage:
var enums = ToList<Enum>();
I think its help you try it.
public class Program
{
public static List<T> GetEnamList<T>()
{
var enums = Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)).Cast<T>().Select(v => v).ToList();
return enums;
}
private void LoadEnumList()
{
List<DayofWeek> dayofweeks = GetEnamList<DayofWeek>();
foreach (var item in dayofweeks)
{
dayofweeks.Add(item);
}
}
}
public enum DayofWeek
{
Monday,
Tuesday,
Wensday,
Thursday,
Friday,
Sturday,
Sunday
}