Flags Enum attribute

Question

What is the point of the [Flags] attribute you can bit test without it?

cgreeno · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-30 11:58:22Z

The Flags attribute allows you to see a CSV(comma separated value) of your enumerated type when calling ToString()

For Example:

[Flags] public Enum Permissions { None =0, Read = 1, Write =2, Delete= 4 } Permissions p = Permissions.Read | Permissions.Write; p.ToString() //Prints out "Read, Write"

However you can still get the same thing if you remove the flags attribute and just do:

p.ToString("F") //Prints out "Read, Write"

And as John pointed out it also allows you convert a CSV back to Enum using Enum.Parse

Jon Skeet · Accepted Answer · 2010-07-30 11:43:51Z

5

It changes the behaviour of converting between strings and the enum values (Enum.Parse and ToString).

answered Jul 30, 2010 at 11:43

Jon Skeet

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1 Comment

Petar Minchev Over a year ago

Offtopic, but I just noticed you are the first one to cross 200 000 reputation. Congrats:)

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