C Iterating through an enum Indexing a System Array

Question

I have the following code      Obtain the string names of all the elements within myEnum  String   names   Enum GetNames  typeof  myEnum          Obtain the values of all the elements within myEnum  Array values   Enum GetValues  typeof  myEnum          Print the names and values to file for   int i   0  i  lt  names Length  i           print  names i   values i          However  I cannot index values  Is there an easier way to do this    Or have I missed something entirely

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Array has a GetValue Int32  method which you can use to retrieve the value at a specified index   Array GetValue

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You need to cast the array - the returned array is actually of the requested type  i e  myEnum   if you ask for typeof myEnum    myEnum   values    myEnum    Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      Then values 0  etc

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Old question  but a slightly cleaner approach using LINQ s  Cast lt  gt      var values   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum   Cast lt MyEnum gt      foreach var val in values        Console WriteLine  Member   0   val ToString

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Ancient question  but 3Dave s answer supplied the easiest approach  I needed a little helper method to generate a Sql script to decode an enum value in the database for debugging  It worked great       public static string EnumToCheater lt T gt              var sql               foreach  var enumValue in Enum GetValues typeof T                sql       when   int  enumValue  then   enumValue              return    case     sql else      end            I have it in a static method  so usage is   var cheater   MyStaticClass EnumToCheater lt MyEnum gt

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In the Enum GetValues results  casting to int produces the numeric value   Using ToString   produces the friendly name   No other calls to Enum GetName are needed   public enum MyEnum       FirstWord      SecondWord      Another   5        later in some method     StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder     foreach  var val in Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum         int numberValue    int val     string friendyName   val ToString       sb Append  Enum number     numberValue     has the name     friendyName     n        File WriteAllText   C  temp myfile txt   sb ToString          Produces the output file contents       Enum number 0 has the name FirstWord  Enum number 1 has the name SecondWord  Enum number 5 has the name Another

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Ancient question  but 3Dave s answer supplied the easiest approach  I needed a little helper method to generate a Sql script to decode an enum value in the database for debugging  It worked great       public static string EnumToCheater lt T gt              var sql               foreach  var enumValue in Enum GetValues typeof T                sql       when   int  enumValue  then   enumValue              return    case     sql else      end            I have it in a static method  so usage is   var cheater   MyStaticClass EnumToCheater lt MyEnum gt

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In the Enum GetValues results  casting to int produces the numeric value   Using ToString   produces the friendly name   No other calls to Enum GetName are needed   public enum MyEnum       FirstWord      SecondWord      Another   5        later in some method     StringBuilder sb   new StringBuilder     foreach  var val in Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum         int numberValue    int val     string friendyName   val ToString       sb Append  Enum number     numberValue     has the name     friendyName     n        File WriteAllText   C  temp myfile txt   sb ToString          Produces the output file contents       Enum number 0 has the name FirstWord  Enum number 1 has the name SecondWord  Enum number 5 has the name Another

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Another solution  with interesting possibilities   enum Days   Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday  Saturday  Sunday    static class Helpers   public static IEnumerable lt Days gt  AllDays Days First      if  First    Days Monday           yield return Days Monday       yield return Days Tuesday       yield return Days Wednesday       yield return Days Thursday       yield return Days Friday       yield return Days Saturday       yield return Days Sunday          if  First    Days Saturday           yield return Days Saturday       yield return Days Sunday       yield return Days Monday       yield return Days Tuesday       yield return Days Wednesday       yield return Days Thursday       yield return Days Friday

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Here is a simple way to iterate through your custom Enum object  For Each enumValue As Integer In  Enum  GetValues GetType MyEnum         Print  Enum  GetName GetType MyEnum   enumValue  ToString   Next

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Another solution  with interesting possibilities   enum Days   Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday  Saturday  Sunday    static class Helpers   public static IEnumerable lt Days gt  AllDays Days First      if  First    Days Monday           yield return Days Monday       yield return Days Tuesday       yield return Days Wednesday       yield return Days Thursday       yield return Days Friday       yield return Days Saturday       yield return Days Sunday          if  First    Days Saturday           yield return Days Saturday       yield return Days Sunday       yield return Days Monday       yield return Days Tuesday       yield return Days Wednesday       yield return Days Thursday       yield return Days Friday

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You need to cast the array - the returned array is actually of the requested type  i e  myEnum   if you ask for typeof myEnum    myEnum   values    myEnum    Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      Then values 0  etc

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Array values   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum     foreach  MyEnum val in values        Console WriteLine  String Format   0    1    Enum GetName typeof MyEnum   val   val        Or  you can cast the System Array that is returned   string   names   Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum    MyEnum   values    MyEnum   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum     for  int i   0  i  lt  names Length  i           print names i   values i        But  can you be sure that GetValues returns the values in the same order as GetNames returns the names

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Old question  but a slightly cleaner approach using LINQ s  Cast lt  gt      var values   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum   Cast lt MyEnum gt      foreach var val in values        Console WriteLine  Member   0   val ToString

User · Answer

You can cast that Array to different types of Arrays   myEnum   values    myEnum   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      or if you want the integer values   int   values    int   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      You can iterate those casted arrays of course

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You can simplify this using format strings  I use the following snippet in usage messages   writer WriteLine  Exit codes are a combination of the following     foreach  ExitCodes value in Enum GetValues typeof ExitCodes          writer WriteLine      0 4 D    0 G    value       The D format specifier formats the enum value as a decimal  There s also an X specifier that gives hexadecimal output   The G specifier formats an enum as a string  If the Flags attribute is applied to the enum then combined values are supported as well  There s an F specifier that acts as if Flags is always present   See Enum Format

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You need to cast the array - the returned array is actually of the requested type  i e  myEnum   if you ask for typeof myEnum    myEnum   values    myEnum    Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      Then values 0  etc

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You can cast that Array to different types of Arrays   myEnum   values    myEnum   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      or if you want the integer values   int   values    int   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      You can iterate those casted arrays of course

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Array values   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum     foreach  MyEnum val in values        Console WriteLine  String Format   0    1    Enum GetName typeof MyEnum   val   val        Or  you can cast the System Array that is returned   string   names   Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum    MyEnum   values    MyEnum   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum     for  int i   0  i  lt  names Length  i           print names i   values i        But  can you be sure that GetValues returns the values in the same order as GetNames returns the names

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Array values   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum     foreach  MyEnum val in values        Console WriteLine  String Format   0    1    Enum GetName typeof MyEnum   val   val        Or  you can cast the System Array that is returned   string   names   Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum    MyEnum   values    MyEnum   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum     for  int i   0  i  lt  names Length  i           print names i   values i        But  can you be sure that GetValues returns the values in the same order as GetNames returns the names

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What about using a foreach loop  maybe you could work with that     int i   0    foreach  var o in values          print names i   o       i          something like that perhaps

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How about a dictionary list   Dictionary lt string  int gt  list   new Dictionary lt string  int gt     foreach  var item in Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum           list Add item   int Enum Parse typeof MyEnum   item        and of course you can change the dictionary value type to whatever your enum values are

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Array values   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum     foreach  MyEnum val in values        Console WriteLine  String Format   0    1    Enum GetName typeof MyEnum   val   val        Or  you can cast the System Array that is returned   string   names   Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum    MyEnum   values    MyEnum   Enum GetValues typeof MyEnum     for  int i   0  i  lt  names Length  i           print names i   values i        But  can you be sure that GetValues returns the values in the same order as GetNames returns the names

User · Answer

You need to cast the array - the returned array is actually of the requested type  i e  myEnum   if you ask for typeof myEnum    myEnum   values    myEnum    Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      Then values 0  etc

User · Answer

What about using a foreach loop  maybe you could work with that     int i   0    foreach  var o in values          print names i   o       i          something like that perhaps

User · Answer

Here is a simple way to iterate through your custom Enum object  For Each enumValue As Integer In  Enum  GetValues GetType MyEnum         Print  Enum  GetName GetType MyEnum   enumValue  ToString   Next

User · Answer

Array has a GetValue Int32  method which you can use to retrieve the value at a specified index   Array GetValue

User · Answer

How about a dictionary list   Dictionary lt string  int gt  list   new Dictionary lt string  int gt     foreach  var item in Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum           list Add item   int Enum Parse typeof MyEnum   item        and of course you can change the dictionary value type to whatever your enum values are

User · Answer

You can simplify this using format strings  I use the following snippet in usage messages   writer WriteLine  Exit codes are a combination of the following     foreach  ExitCodes value in Enum GetValues typeof ExitCodes          writer WriteLine      0 4 D    0 G    value       The D format specifier formats the enum value as a decimal  There s also an X specifier that gives hexadecimal output   The G specifier formats an enum as a string  If the Flags attribute is applied to the enum then combined values are supported as well  There s an F specifier that acts as if Flags is always present   See Enum Format

User · Answer

Array has a GetValue Int32  method which you can use to retrieve the value at a specified index   Array GetValue

User · Answer

How about a dictionary list   Dictionary lt string  int gt  list   new Dictionary lt string  int gt     foreach  var item in Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum           list Add item   int Enum Parse typeof MyEnum   item        and of course you can change the dictionary value type to whatever your enum values are

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Here is another  We had a need to provide friendly names for our EnumValues  We used the System ComponentModel DescriptionAttribute to show a custom string value for each enum value    public static class StaticClass       public static string GetEnumDescription Enum currentEnum                string description   String Empty          DescriptionAttribute da           FieldInfo fi   currentEnum GetType                        GetField currentEnum ToString             da    DescriptionAttribute Attribute GetCustomAttribute fi                      typeof DescriptionAttribute            if  da    null              description   da Description          else             description   currentEnum ToString             return description             public static List lt string gt  GetEnumFormattedNames lt TEnum gt                  var enumType   typeof TEnum           if  enumType    typeof Enum               throw new ArgumentException  typeof TEnum     System Enum    TEnum             if    enumType IsEnum               throw new ArgumentException String Format  typeof  0   IsEnum    false   enumType    TEnum             List lt string gt  formattedNames   new List lt string gt             var list   Enum GetValues enumType  OfType lt TEnum gt    ToList lt TEnum gt              foreach  TEnum item in list                        formattedNames Add GetEnumDescription item as Enum                       return formattedNames            In Use   public enum TestEnum              Description  Something 1            Dr   0           Description  Something 2            Mr   1           static void Main string   args                 var vals   StaticClass GetEnumFormattedNames lt TestEnum gt             This will end returning  Something 1    Something 2

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What about using a foreach loop  maybe you could work with that     int i   0    foreach  var o in values          print names i   o       i          something like that perhaps

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Here is another  We had a need to provide friendly names for our EnumValues  We used the System ComponentModel DescriptionAttribute to show a custom string value for each enum value    public static class StaticClass       public static string GetEnumDescription Enum currentEnum                string description   String Empty          DescriptionAttribute da           FieldInfo fi   currentEnum GetType                        GetField currentEnum ToString             da    DescriptionAttribute Attribute GetCustomAttribute fi                      typeof DescriptionAttribute            if  da    null              description   da Description          else             description   currentEnum ToString             return description             public static List lt string gt  GetEnumFormattedNames lt TEnum gt                  var enumType   typeof TEnum           if  enumType    typeof Enum               throw new ArgumentException  typeof TEnum     System Enum    TEnum             if    enumType IsEnum               throw new ArgumentException String Format  typeof  0   IsEnum    false   enumType    TEnum             List lt string gt  formattedNames   new List lt string gt             var list   Enum GetValues enumType  OfType lt TEnum gt    ToList lt TEnum gt              foreach  TEnum item in list                        formattedNames Add GetEnumDescription item as Enum                       return formattedNames            In Use   public enum TestEnum              Description  Something 1            Dr   0           Description  Something 2            Mr   1           static void Main string   args                 var vals   StaticClass GetEnumFormattedNames lt TestEnum gt             This will end returning  Something 1    Something 2

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Array has a GetValue Int32  method which you can use to retrieve the value at a specified index   Array GetValue

User · Answer

You can cast that Array to different types of Arrays   myEnum   values    myEnum   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      or if you want the integer values   int   values    int   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      You can iterate those casted arrays of course

User · Answer

You can cast that Array to different types of Arrays   myEnum   values    myEnum   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      or if you want the integer values   int   values    int   Enum GetValues typeof myEnum      You can iterate those casted arrays of course

User · Answer

How about a dictionary list   Dictionary lt string  int gt  list   new Dictionary lt string  int gt     foreach  var item in Enum GetNames typeof MyEnum           list Add item   int Enum Parse typeof MyEnum   item        and of course you can change the dictionary value type to whatever your enum values are

User · Answer

What about using a foreach loop  maybe you could work with that     int i   0    foreach  var o in values          print names i   o       i          something like that perhaps

[c#] C# Iterating through an enum? (Indexing a System.Array)

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