CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#tostring
delete
delete

Reputation:

Why can I call ToString() many times on the same object?

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string word = "Shazam!";
            Console.WriteLine(word.ToString().ToString().ToString().ToString());
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }
}

Can anyone tell me why I can call ToString() like that many times over? Just curious, thanks!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 357

Answers (7)

Nighil
Nighil

Reputation: 4127

a function chain is occurring here while calling ToString() becauseToString() returns a string object

Upvotes: 0

MrPugh
MrPugh

Reputation: 43

The ToString() method returns a string representing an object.

If you call the ToString() method of a string, it returns a string - with the same content as it self. If you do it multiple times you get an other string object basically referring to the very same string.

Upvotes: 0

Vivek Goel
Vivek Goel

Reputation: 24160

  1. Everything is object .
  2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.object.tostring.aspx is an object class method.

When you apply toSting on an object it returns an object type string. But it again an object and you can apply toString method on it. So your cycle it go infinite. As every new thing will be an object.

Upvotes: 1

Joe
Joe

Reputation: 11677

ToString() just returns a string representation as a String object. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.object.tostring.aspx

So word.ToString() returns a String object representing word. The String object has a ToString() function which returns a String object representing the String object... so on.

Upvotes: 0

Markus Johnsson
Markus Johnsson

Reputation: 4019

Well, the ToString() method returns a System.String, and System.String also has a ToString() method, so you are calling ToString() on the object returned from the previous ToString().

Upvotes: 0

viraptor
viraptor

Reputation: 34185

.ToString() returns a string object. It also implements a .ToString() which basically returns this.

Upvotes: 1

Jon Skeet
Jon Skeet

Reputation: 1502236

Because string itself has a ToString() method (all objects do).

You're calling ToString() first on word, then on the result of that call, then on the result of that call etc. Basically each subsequent call acts on the result of the previous one.

It's not limited to ToString() of course. For example:

int x = new object().ToString().Substring(0, 2).Length;

That calls ToString() on a new object, then Substring on the string that's been returned, then Length on that substring.

Upvotes: 6

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