Cast int to enum in C#

Question

How can an int be cast to an enum in C#?

Answer 1

If you have an integer that acts as a bitmask and could represent one or more values in a [Flags] enumeration, you can use this code to parse the individual flag values into a list:

for (var flagIterator = 0x1; flagIterator <= 0x80000000; flagIterator <<= 1)
{
    // Check to see if the current flag exists in the bit mask
    if ((intValue & flagIterator) != 0)
    {
        // If the current flag exists in the enumeration, then we can add that value to the list
        // if the enumeration has that flag defined
        if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(MyEnum), flagIterator))
            ListOfEnumValues.Add((MyEnum)flagIterator);
    }
}

Answer 2

Different ways to cast to and from Enum

enum orientation : byte
{
 north = 1,
 south = 2,
 east = 3,
 west = 4
}

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    orientation myDirection = orientation.north;
    Console.WriteLine(“myDirection = {0}”, myDirection); //output myDirection =north
    Console.WriteLine((byte)myDirection); //output 1

    string strDir = Convert.ToString(myDirection);
        Console.WriteLine(strDir); //output north

    string myString = “north”; //to convert string to Enum
    myDirection = (orientation)Enum.Parse(typeof(orientation),myString);


 }
}

Answer 3

Just cast it:

MyEnum e = (MyEnum)3;

You can check if it's in range using Enum.IsDefined:

if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(MyEnum), 3)) { ... }

Answer 4

If you're ready for the 4.0 .NET Framework, there's a new Enum.TryParse() function that's very useful and plays well with the [Flags] attribute. See Enum.TryParse Method (String, TEnum%)