[c#] What is "string[] args" in Main class for?

In C# the Main class has string[] args parameter.

What is that for and where does it get used?

This is an array of the command line switches pass to the program. E.g. if you start the program with the command "myapp.exe -c -d" then string[] args[] will contain the strings "-c" and "-d".

It's an array of the parameters/arguments (hence args) that you send to the program. For example ping 172.16.0.1 -t -4

These arguments are passed to the program as an array of strings.

string[] args // Array of Strings containing arguments.

Further to everyone else's answer, you should note that the parameters are optional in C# if your application does not use command line arguments.

This code is perfectly valid:

internal static Program
{
    private static void Main()
    {
        // Get on with it, without any arguments...
    }
}

Besides the other answers. You should notice these args can give you the file path that was dragged and dropped on the .exe file. i.e if you drag and drop any file on your .exe file then the application will be launched and the arg[0] will contain the file path that was dropped onto it.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine(args[0]);
}

this will print the path of the file dropped on the .exe file. e.g

C:\Users\ABCXYZ\source\repos\ConsoleTest\ConsoleTest\bin\Debug\ConsoleTest.pdb

Hence, looping through the args array will give you the path of all the files that were selected and dragged and dropped onto the .exe file of your console app. See:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    foreach (var arg in args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(arg);
    }
    Console.ReadLine();
}

The code sample above will print all the file names that were dragged and dropped onto it, See I am dragging 5 files onto my ConsoleTest.exe app.

And here is the output that I get after that:

For passing in command line parameters. For example args[0] will give you the first command line parameter, if there is one.

You must have seen some application that run from the commandline and let you to pass them arguments. If you write one such app in C#, the array args serves as the collection of the said arguments.

This how you process them:

static void Main(string[] args) {
    foreach (string arg in args) {
       //Do something with each argument
    }
}

The args parameter stores all command line arguments which are given by the user when you run the program.

If you run your program from the console like this:

program.exe there are 4 parameters

Your args parameter will contain the four strings: "there", "are", "4", and "parameters"

Here is an example of how to access the command line arguments from the args parameter: example