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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

?? Operator (C# Reference)

The ?? operator is called the null-coalescing operator and is used to define a default value for a nullable value types as well as reference types. It returns the left-hand operand if it is not null; otherwise it returns the right operand.

Remarks


A nullable type can contain a value, or it can be undefined. The ?? operator defines the default value to be returned when a nullable type is assigned to a non-nullable type. If you try to assign a nullable value type to a non-nullable value type without using the ?? operator, you will generate a compile-time error. If you use a cast, and the nullable value type is currently undefined, an InvalidOperationException exception will be thrown.

For more information, see Nullable Types (C# Programming Guide).

The result of a ?? operator is not considered to be a constant even if both its arguments are constants.

class NullCoalesce
{
static int? GetNullableInt()
{
return null;
}

static string GetStringValue()
{
return null;
}

static void Main()
{
// ?? operator example.
int? x = null;

// y = x, unless x is null, in which case y = -1.
int y = x ?? -1;

// Assign i to return value of method, unless
// return value is null, in which case assign
// default value of int to i.
int i = GetNullableInt() ?? default(int);

string s = GetStringValue();
// ?? also works with reference types.
// Display contents of s, unless s is null,
// in which case display "Unspecified".
Console.WriteLine(s ?? "Unspecified");
}
}