Difference between Convert ToString and ToString

Question

What is the difference between Convert ToString   and  ToString     I found many differences online  but what s the major difference

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To understand both the methods let s take an example    int i  0  MessageBox Show i ToString     MessageBox Show Convert ToString i       Here both the methods are used to convert the string but the basic difference between them is  Convert function handles NULL  while i ToString   does not it will throw a NULL reference exception error  So as good coding practice using convert is always safe   Let s see another example    string s  object o   null  s   o ToString       returns a null reference exception for s    string s  object o   null  s   Convert ToString o      returns an empty string for s and does not throw an exception

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Lets understand the difference via this example   int i  0  MessageBox Show i ToString     MessageBox Show Convert ToString i      We can convert the integer i using i ToString    or Convert ToString  So what   s the difference    The basic difference between them is the Convert function handles NULLS while i ToString    does not  it will throw a NULL reference exception error  So as good coding practice using convert is always safe

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Convert ToString strName  will handle null-able values and strName Tostring   will not handle null value and throw an exception   So It is better to use Convert ToString   then  ToString

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i wrote this code and compile it   class Program       static void Main string   args                int a   1          Console WriteLine a ToString             Console WriteLine Convert ToString a              by using  reverse engineering   ilspy  i find out  object ToString    and  Convert ToString obj   do exactly one thing  infact  Convert ToString obj   call  object ToString    so  object ToString    is faster      Object ToString Method    class System Object       public string ToString IFormatProvider provider                return Number FormatInt32 this  null  NumberFormatInfo GetInstance provider                 Conver ToString Method    class System Convert       public static string ToString object value                return value ToString CultureInfo CurrentCulture

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For Code lovers this is the best answer                      Un Safe code                                         Try           In this code we will get   Object reference not set to an instance of an object   exception         Dim a As Object         a   Nothing         a ToString       Catch ex As NullReferenceException         Response Write ex Message      End Try                        it is a safe code                                   Dim b As Object     b   Nothing     Convert ToString b

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The methods are  basically  the same  except handling null   Pen pen   null   Convert ToString pen      No exception thrown pen ToString       Throws NullReferenceException   From MSDN   Convert ToString Method     Converts the specified value to its equivalent string representation    Object ToString     Returns a string that represents the current object

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Calling ToString   on an object presumes that the object is not null  since an object needs to exist to call an instance method on it   Convert ToString obj  doesn t need to presume the object is not null  as it is a static method on the Convert class   but instead will return String Empty if it is null

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For nullable types ToString   actually handles null values  int  i   null           var s1   i ToString        returns  quot  quot   var s2   Convert ToString i        returns  quot  quot   Just to remedy the existing answers  Source  https   docs microsoft com en-us dotnet api system nullable-1 tostring view net-5 0

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Convert Tostring   function handles the NULL whereas the  ToString   method does not  visit here

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ToString   can not handle null values and convert ToString   can handle values which are null  so when you want your system to handle null value use convert ToString

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In addition to other answers about handling null values  Convert ToString tries to use IFormattable and IConvertible interfaces before calling base Object ToString   Example   class FormattableType   IFormattable       private double value   0 42       public string ToString string format  IFormatProvider formatProvider                if  formatProvider    null                               using some IOC-containers                    or using CultureInfo CurrentCulture   Thread CurrentThread CurrentCulture             formatProvider   CultureInfo InvariantCulture                            doing things with format         return value ToString formatProvider              public override string ToString                 return value ToString              Result   Convert ToString new FormattableType        0 42 new FormattableType   ToString              0 42

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You can create a class and override the toString method to do anything you want   For example- you can create a class  MyMail  and override the toString method to send an email or do some other operation instead of writing the current object   The Convert toString converts the specified value to its equivalent string representation

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Convert ToString   handles null  while ToString   doesn t

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object o null  string s  s o toString      returns a null reference exception for string  s   string str convert tostring o     returns an empty string for string str and does not throw an exception  it s    better to use convert tostring   for good coding

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In C  if you declare a string variable and if you don   t assign any value to that variable  then by default that variable takes a null value  In such a case  if you use the ToString   method then your program will throw the null reference exception  On the other hand  if you use the Convert ToString   method then your program will not throw an exception

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Convert ToString value  first tries casting obj to IConvertible  then IFormattable to call corresponding ToString      methods  If instead the parameter value was null then return string Empty  As a last resort  return obj ToString   if nothing else worked   It s worth noting that Convert ToString value  can return null if for example value ToString   returns null   See  Net reference source

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I agree with  Ryan s answer  By the way  starting with C 6 0 for this purpose you can use   someString  ToString      string Empty    or     someString       I do not recommend this approach  although this is the most concise option    instead of  Convert ToString someString

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In Convert ToString    the Convert handles either a NULL value or not but in  ToString   it does not handles a NULL value and a NULL reference exception error  So it is in good practice to use Convert ToString

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Convert Tostring   basically just calls the following value    null   String Empty  value ToString    string variable will only cast when there is an implicit or explicit operator on what you are casting ToString   can be overriden by the type  it has control over what it does   if not it results in the name of the type   Obviously if an object is null  you can t access the instance member ToString    it will cause an exception

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ToString   Vs Convert ToString        Similarities  -   Both are used to convert a specific type to string i e int to string  float to string or an object to string      Difference  -   ToString   can t handle null while in case with Convert ToString   will handle null value   Example    namespace Marcus       class Employee               public int Id   get  set            public string Name   get  set              class Startup               public static void Main                         Employee e   new Employee                e   null               string s   e ToString       This will throw an null exception             s   Convert ToString e      This will throw null exception but it will be automatically handled by Convert ToString   and exception will not be shown on command window

[c#] Difference between Convert.ToString() and .ToString()

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