How to pass a private variable as the default optional parameter in C# [duplicate]

Question

In the provided example, the function declaration PrintBar is throwing an error because _bar is not a compile time constant. What is the best practice to avoid this issue?

using System; class Foo { private readonly string _bar; public Foo(string initBar) { _bar = initBar; } public void PrintBar(string value = _bar) { Console.WriteLine(value); } }

Why not null be the default? And replace it with _bar if null was passed. — Dmitry
– Dmitry, Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 18:26
If you want the non-constant value of _bar to be used as default I'd use null as formal default: void PrintBar(string value = null) and in the method's body replace null by _bar. — lidqy
– lidqy, Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 18:33
I question the sense in a method called "PrintBar" that might possibly not print _bar. Instead of overloading, give them different names entirely. I recognize that this might be a trivial example, but the same line of reasoning should be used to inform your design decisions in real-world scenarios, as well. — madreflection
– madreflection, Commented Dec 9, 2021 at 18:45

Dmitrii Bychenko · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-09 18:43:03Z

I suggest overloading esp. in case Dmitry's solution (using null as default and then assign _bar if null passed) is not a way out (when null can well be passed as a valid input):

public void PrintBar(string value) { Console.WriteLine(value); } public void PrintBar() => PrintBar(_bar);

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