Get int value from enum in C#

Question

I have a class called Questions (plural). In this class there is an enum called Question (singular) which looks like this.

public enum Question {     Role = 2,     ProjectFunding = 3,     TotalEmployee = 4,     NumberOfServers = 5,     TopBusinessConcern = 6 } 

In the Questions class I have a get(int foo) function that returns a Questions object for that foo. Is there an easy way to get the integer value off the enum so I can do something like this Questions.Get(Question.Role)?

Answer 1

Just cast the enum, e.g.

int something = (int) Question.Role; 

The above will work for the vast majority of enums you see in the wild, as the default underlying type for an enum is int.

However, as cecilphillip points out, enums can have different underlying types. If an enum is declared as a uint, long, or ulong, it should be cast to the type of the enum; e.g. for

enum StarsInMilkyWay:long {Sun = 1, V645Centauri = 2 .. Wolf424B = 2147483649}; 

you should use

long something = (long)StarsInMilkyWay.Wolf424B; 

Answer 2

Since Enums can be any integral type (byte, int, short, etc.), a more robust way to get the underlying integral value of the enum would be to make use of the GetTypeCode method in conjunction with the Convert class:

enum Sides {     Left, Right, Top, Bottom } Sides side = Sides.Bottom;  object val = Convert.ChangeType(side, side.GetTypeCode()); Console.WriteLine(val); 

This should work regardless of the underlying integral type.