C# Type Casting

Type casting is when you assign a value of one data type to another type.

In C#, there are two types of casting:

Implicit Casting (automatically) - converting a smaller type to a larger type size
char -> int -> long -> float -> double
Explicit Casting (manually) - converting a larger type to a smaller size type
double -> float -> long -> int -> char

Implicit Casting

Implicit casting is done automatically when passing a smaller size type to a larger size type:

Example

int myInt = 9;
double myDouble = myInt;       // Automatic casting: int to double

Console.WriteLine(myInt);      // Outputs 9
Console.WriteLine(myDouble);   // Outputs 9

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Explicit Casting

Explicit casting must be done manually by placing the type in parentheses in front of the value:

Example

double myDouble = 9.78;
int myInt = (int) myDouble;    // Manual casting: double to int

Console.WriteLine(myDouble);   // Outputs 9.78
Console.WriteLine(myInt);      // Outputs 9

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Type Conversion Methods

It is also possible to convert data types explicitly by using built-in methods, such as Convert.ToBoolean, Convert.ToDouble, Convert.ToString, Convert.ToInt32 (int) and Convert.ToInt64 (long):

Example

int myInt = 10;
double myDouble = 5.25;
bool myBool = true;

Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToString(myInt));    // convert int to string
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToDouble(myInt));    // convert int to double
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToInt32(myDouble));  // convert double to int
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToString(myBool));   // convert bool to string

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Why Conversion?

Many times, there's no need for type conversion. But sometimes you have to. Take a look at the next chapter, when working with user input, to see an example of this.

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