Variable does not exist in the current context?

Question

I know this is most likely a stupid question but I am a university student who is new to C# and object-oriented programming. I have tried to find the answer elsewhere but I wasn't able to find anything that could help. The debugger keeps telling me that the variable 'cust_num does not exist in the current context'. If someone can tell me what I have done wrong and make me feel like an idiot, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

    string get_cust_num()
    {
        bool cust_num_valid = false;

        while (!cust_num_valid)
        {
            cust_num_valid = true;
            Console.Write("Please enter customer number: ");
            string cust_num = Console.ReadLine();

            if (cust_num == "000000" || !Regex.IsMatch(cust_num, @"^[0-9]+$") || cust_num.Length != 6)
            {
                cust_num_valid = false;
                Console.WriteLine("Invalid customer number detected. Customer numbers must be a 6 digit positive integer (zeros will not work)");
            }
        }

        return cust_num;
    }

Answer 1

Define it outside the while:

string cust_num = null;
while ...

and then inside the while set it like this:

cust_num = Console.ReadLine();

because you're trying to access it after the while:

return cust_num;

Answer 2

Each variable in C# exists within a scope which is defined by curly braces:

{ 
  ...
  int x = 0;
  ...
  x = x + 1; // <- legal
  ...
  // <- x is defined up to here
}

x = x - 1; // <- illegal, providing there's no other "x" declared

In your case, cust_num is restricted by while {...}. It has to think what value should your code return if cust_num_valid = true and there's no cust_num at all.

  while (!cust_num_valid)
    { // <- Scope of cust_num begins
        cust_num_valid = true;
        Console.Write("Please enter customer number: ");
        string cust_num = Console.ReadLine();

        if (cust_num == "000000" || !Regex.IsMatch(cust_num, @"^[0-9]+$") || cust_num.Length != 6)
        {
            cust_num_valid = false;
            Console.WriteLine("Invalid customer number detected. Customer numbers must be a 6 digit positive integer (zeros will not work)");
        }
    } // <- Scope of cust_num ends

  return cust_num; // <- out of scope

To repair your code put string cust_num = ""; outside the while:

  string cust_num = ""; // <- declaration

  while (!cust_num_valid)
    { 
        cust_num_valid = true;
        Console.Write("Please enter customer number: ");
        cust_num = Console.ReadLine(); // <- no new declaration: "string" is removed

        if (cust_num == "000000" || !Regex.IsMatch(cust_num, @"^[0-9]+$") || cust_num.Length != 6)
        {
            cust_num_valid = false;
            Console.WriteLine("Invalid customer number detected. Customer numbers must be a 6 digit positive integer (zeros will not work)");
        }
    } 

  return cust_num; 

Answer 3

Your return cust_num statement is outside of the definition context of cust_num. Since you defined it inside your while loop, it exists only in that scope. You need to move it out of the loop.

Any local variable you define exists only within the curly brackets that encapsulate it (and in any nested brackets).