What are the default access modifiers in C

Question

What is the default access modifier for classes  methods  members  constructors  delegates and interfaces

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I would like to add some documentation link  Check out more detail here

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Simplest answer is the following       All members in C  always take the LEAST accessible modifier possible by default   That is why all top level classes in an assembly are  internal  by default  which means they are public to the assembly they are in  but private or excluded from access to outside assemblies  The only other option for a top level class is public which is more accessible  For nested types its all private except for a few rare exceptions like members of enums and interfaces which can only be public  Some examples  In the case of top level classes and interfaces  the defaults are   class Animal same as internal class Animal  interface Animal same as public interface Animal  In the case of nested classes and interfaces  inside types   the defaults are   class Animal same as private class Animal  interface Animal same as private interface Animal  If you just assume the default is always the most private  then you do not need to use an accessors until you need to change the default  Easy

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The default access for everything in C  is  the most restricted access you could declare for that member    So for example   namespace MyCompany       class Outer               void Foo              class Inner              is equivalent to  namespace MyCompany       internal class Outer               private void Foo              private class Inner              The one sort of exception to this is making one part of a property  usually the setter  more restricted than the declared accessibility of the property itself   public string Name       get             private set            This isn t the default  have to do it explicitly       This is what the C  3 0 specification has to say  section 3 5 1       Depending on the context in which a   member declaration takes place  only   certain types of declared   accessibility are permitted    Furthermore  when a member declaration   does not include any access modifiers    the context in which the declaration   takes place determines the default   declared accessibility          Namespaces implicitly have public declared accessibility  No access   modifiers are allowed on namespace   declarations    Types declared in compilation units or namespaces can have public or   internal declared accessibility and   default to internal declared   accessibility    Class members can have any of the five kinds of declared accessibility   and default to private declared   accessibility   Note that a type   declared as a member of a class can   have any of the five kinds of declared   accessibility  whereas a type declared   as a member of a namespace can have   only public or internal declared   accessibility     Struct members can have public  internal  or private declared   accessibility and default to private   declared accessibility because structs   are implicitly sealed  Struct members   introduced in a struct  that is  not   inherited by that struct  cannot have   protected or protected internal   declared accessibility   Note that a   type declared as a member of a struct   can have public  internal  or private   declared accessibility  whereas a type   declared as a member of a namespace   can have only public or internal   declared accessibility     Interface members implicitly have public declared accessibility  No   access modifiers are allowed on   interface member declarations    Enumeration members implicitly have public declared accessibility  No   access modifiers are allowed on   enumeration member declarations        Note that nested types would come under the  class members  or  struct members  parts - and therefore default to private visibility

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Have a look at Access Modifiers  C  Programming Guide   Class and Struct Accessibility Classes and structs that are declared directly within a namespace  in other words  that are not nested within other classes or structs  can be either public or internal  Internal is the default if no access modifier is specified  Struct members  including nested classes and structs  can be declared as public  internal  or private  Class members  including nested classes and structs  can be public  protected internal  protected  internal  private protected or private  The access level for class members and struct members  including nested classes and structs  is private by default  Private nested types are not accessible from outside the containing type  Derived classes cannot have greater accessibility than their base types  In other words  you cannot have a public class B that derives from an internal class A  If this were allowed  it would have the effect of making A public  because all protected or internal members of A are accessible from the derived class  You can enable specific other assemblies to access your internal types by using the InternalsVisibleToAttribute  For more information  see Friend Assemblies  Class and Struct Member Accessibility Class members  including nested classes and structs  can be declared with any of the six types of access  Struct members cannot be declared as protected because structs do not support inheritance  Normally  the accessibility of a member is not greater than the accessibility of the type that contains it  However  a public member of an internal class might be accessible from outside the assembly if the member implements interface methods or overrides virtual methods that are defined in a public base class  The type of any member that is a field  property  or event must be at least as accessible as the member itself  Similarly  the return type and the parameter types of any member that is a method  indexer  or delegate must be at least as accessible as the member itself  For example  you cannot have a public method M that returns a class C unless C is also public  Likewise  you cannot have a protected property of type A if A is declared as private  User-defined operators must always be declared as public and static  For more information  see Operator overloading  Finalizers cannot have accessibility modifiers  Other Types Interfaces declared directly within a namespace can be declared as public or internal and  just like classes and structs  interfaces default to internal access  Interface members are always public because the purpose of an interface is to enable other types to access a class or struct  No access modifiers can be applied to interface members  Enumeration members are always public  and no access modifiers can be applied  Delegates behave like classes and structs  By default  they have internal access when declared directly within a namespace  and private access when nested

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top level class  internal method  private members  unless an interface or enum   private  including nested classes  members  of interface or enum   public constructor  private  note that if no constructor is explicitly defined  a public default constructor will be automatically defined  delegate  internal interface  internal explicitly implemented interface member  public

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Short answer  minimum possible access  cf Jon Skeet s answer   Long answer  Non-nested types  enumeration and delegate accessibilities  may only have internal or public accessibility                          Default     Permitted declared accessibilities ------------------------------------------------------------------ namespace              public      none  always implicitly public   enum                   public      public  internal  interface              internal    public  internal  class                  internal    public  internal  struct                 internal    public  internal  delegate               internal    public  internal   Nested type and member accessiblities                         Default     Permitted declared accessibilities ------------------------------------------------------------------ namespace              public      none  always implicitly public   enum                   public      All    interface              public      All    class                  private     All    struct                 private     public  internal  private    delegate               private     All    constructor            private     All    enum member            public      none  always implicitly public   interface member       public      none  always implicitly public        method                 private     All    field                  private     All    user-defined operator  none        public  must be declared public      All     public  protected  internal  private  protected internal    structs cannot inherit from structs or classes  although they can  interfaces   hence protected is not a valid modifier  The accessibility of a nested type depends on its accessibility domain  which is determined by both the declared accessibility of the member and the accessibility domain of the immediately containing type  However  the accessibility domain of a nested type cannot exceed that of the containing type  Note  CIL also has the provision for protected and internal  as opposed to the existing protected  quot or quot  internal   but to my knowledge this is not currently available for use in C    See  http   msdn microsoft com en-us library ba0a1yw2 aspx http   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms173121 aspx http   msdn microsoft com en-us library cx03xt0t aspx  Man I love Microsoft URLs

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Internal is the default modifier

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Class is Internal by default    Class members are private by default    Interface is Internal by default    Interface members are public by default   Interfaces won t allow us to specify any kind of accessibility to it s members    Note  If you try to specify any access specifier to interface s members then  it shows compile error      Struct is Internal by default     Struct members are private by default

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Namespace level  internal  Type level  private

[c#] What are the default access modifiers in C#?

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