CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
Arne Lund
Arne Lund

Reputation: 2456

How to specify a short int literal without casting?

Is there a way to specify that my variable is a short int? I am looking for something similar to M suffix for decimals. For decimals, I do not have to say

var d = (decimal)1.23;

I can just write as follows:

var d = 1.23M;

Is there a way to write this

var s = SomeLiteralWithoutCast

so that s is implied to be short int?

Upvotes: 89

Views: 43839

Answers (6)

Tomislav Markovski
Tomislav Markovski

Reputation: 12366

Short answer, No. In C#, there's no letter S that could be used as var a = 123S that would indicate that a is of type short. There's L for long, F for float, D for double, M for decimal, but not S. It would be nice if there was, but there isn't.

var a = 1M;  // decimal
var a = 1L;  // long
var a = 1F;  // float
var a = 1D;  // double
var a = 1;   // int

var a = 1U;  // uint
var a = 1UL; // ulong

but not 

var a = 1S; // not possible, you must use (short)1;

Upvotes: 159

Eric Lippert
Eric Lippert

Reputation: 660407

The question is a bit confusing. Let's define some terms:

A constant expression is (roughly speaking) an expression known to the compiler to be a particular constant value.

A literal is a particular kind of constant expression; 123 and Math.PI are both constant expressions. The former is a literal, the latter is not.

A constant field is a member of a type that is initialized with a constant expression, and may then be used as a constant expression elsewhere. Math.PI is an example of a constant field.

A local constant is like a constant field, but scoped to a block. (Just as a local variable is scoped to a block.)

Constant fields and local constants are required to state their type explicitly; there is no "var" form for constants. (The very idea makes one shudder; a "const var" is obviously an oxymoron.)

Local variables are not required to state their type; the type can be inferred from the initializer. Such a local variable is called an "implicitly typed local variable".

So your question is "is there a way to write a literal constant expression of type short that can be used to initialize an implicitly typed local variable of type short?"

No, there is not. You can explicitly type the local variable:

short s1 = 123;

You can explicitly type a local constant:

const short s2 = 123;

Or you can make a constant expression that contains a cast to short:

var s3 = (short)123;

Or you can make a local or field constant and use its name for the initializer of the implicitly typed local:

var s4 = s2;

But there is no way around it; short has to appear somewhere, either in a field or local declaration or in the cast.

Upvotes: 25

gdoron
gdoron

Reputation: 150293

There is no such thing Implicitly const So you will have to define your const as short like this:

const short x = 999;

see more here

Upvotes: 0

Toni Parviainen
Toni Parviainen

Reputation: 2387

You can use the following:

var value = (short)123;

Of course it doesn't really make sense since the whole point of var is not to write the type.

Upvotes: 2

Marc Gravell
Marc Gravell

Reputation: 1063704

Two options; neither ideal:

  1. Remove the var, specifying the type explicitly:

    short s = 123;

  2. Use the cast syntax (noting that this is a compile-time operation, not run-time):

    var s = (short)123;

That's the only options for specifying a literal short.

Upvotes: 8

Anthony Pegram
Anthony Pegram

Reputation: 126932

There is no suffix for the short data type in C#. If you want an integer literal to be a short, you need to explicitly state the type and provide a literal that is in range. 

short s = 123;

Upvotes: 10

Related Questions