Is there an interactive interpreter for C#?

Question

Sometimes it's handy to have access to your language to do quick things without starting Visual Studio and creating a new console app.

Is there something like Python's interactive mode or groovy shell, except for C#?

Duplicate/Similar Question - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/47537/c-console — , Jan 13 '10 at 17:53
Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 includes a C# Interactive window. — pharring, Nov 20 '15 at 21:19

score 112 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 01 '22 at 09:48

112

Update for 2022

After installing Visual Studio 2022, add the following to your PATH environment variable.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Shared\Packages\Microsoft.Net.Compilers.2.6.1\tools

Then open your terminal (CMD, PowerShell, Windows Terminal) and type csi to run C Sharp Interactive.

You'll get something like this:

PS C:\> csi
Microsoft (R) Visual C# Interactive Compiler version 2.6.1.62414
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Type "#help" for more information.
> var list = new List<int>{ 1, 2, 3, 4 };
> list // You don't need to call Console.WriteLine() to see values
List<int>(4) { 1, 2, 3, 4 }
> // You can keep adding lines as needed

Previous Answer

With the Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 there now is a C# Interactive tool window built into Visual Studio.

The new tool window is invoked by going to View → Other Windows → C# Interactive.

For Visual Studio 2010 to 2013 you can use the Roslyn CTP to get a similar tool window in Visual Studio.

edited Sep 01 '22 at 09:48

Dorian Cortes Gonzalez

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answered Dec 20 '11 at 20:00

Daniel Rose

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Install from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/roslyn then 'view / other windows / c# interactive' – Colonel Panic Jun 11 '12 at 12:49
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This is the most correct answer now. – EightyOne Unite Aug 02 '12 at 15:00
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And it is available in Visual Studio 2015 Update 1. Link: https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/vs2015-update1-vs.aspx#Csharp – pharring Nov 20 '15 at 21:20
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The command line version can be found at `C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\csi.exe` (automatically in the PATH in the VS developer command prompt) – Ohad Schneider Feb 17 '16 at 14:42

score 37 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:15

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Have a look at CsharpRepl (part of the Mono project). Never used it myself, I hasten to add.

For LINQ stuff, you should also look at LINQPad.

answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:15

Jon Skeet

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Indeed, LINQPad is useful for more than just LINQ! – Craig Stuntz Jan 13 '10 at 17:25
LinqPad is a great piece of software but i find Snippet Compiler to be the lightest and quickest for testing snippets. Give it a try as well. – Paul Sasik Jan 13 '10 at 17:29
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I always run a VS Console App project in the background. – Mehrdad Afshari Jan 13 '10 at 17:43
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CsharpRepl works quite well. Doesn't interpret files, but there was some development on it. – Dykam Jan 13 '10 at 18:22
+1 for LINQPad, I hadn't used that before. I don't have mono installed here, I'll have to check out CsharpRepl later tonight. – Seth Jan 13 '10 at 21:36
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CSharpRepl *works*, but it's a little rough around the edges. – Seth Jan 14 '10 at 04:06
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It's worth noting that as nice as LINQPad is, it does not offer a "true" interactive environment like CsharpRepl does (that is, results are not persisted across executions). – Stephen Swensen Mar 13 '13 at 16:21

score 10 · Answer 3 · 2010-01-13T17:25:48.713

10

There are several.

edited Jan 13 '10 at 17:25

answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:16

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Well, and the first couple of results are all about the same one ... – Joey Jan 13 '10 at 17:17
Looking at the first couple of results is usually not a good idea, no matter the search engine. You need to explore the first page or two, perhaps even three, if you are feeling ambitious. This, in addition to trying different search terms really helps broaden your search. – Jan 13 '10 at 17:35
CSI doesn't seem to support the latestfeatures of the language. I found a tip here: http://www.codeproject.com/Messages/2635407/Update-for-NET-Framework-3-5.aspx that was supposed to fix this, but I was unable to get that version working properly. – Casebash Feb 17 '10 at 05:58

Joey · Answer 4 · 2010-01-13T17:30:52.853

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Like others noted, Mono's CSharpRepl is probably the right answer. However, if you're not fixed to C#, then PowerShell is a pretty nice environment of playing around with .NET. I frequently use it to test regular expressions, format strings, etc. All the kinds of stuff you have ConsoleProject163 lying around for :)

edited Jan 13 '10 at 17:30

answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:18

Joey

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Craig Stuntz · Answer 5 · 2010-01-13T17:45:03.480

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In addition to the other good answers here (+1), there is also CSI and the immediate window in Visual Studio.

edited Jan 13 '10 at 17:45

answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:24

Craig Stuntz

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The immediate windows is nice, but you can't define classes on the fly. – Casebash Feb 17 '10 at 05:52

score 4 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 17 '13 at 23:04

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There is ScriptCS which uses the Roslyn CTP nuget package.

edited Dec 17 '13 at 23:04

hemme

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answered May 09 '13 at 15:52

Tim

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ScriptCs now has interactive shell too - http://codebetter.com/glennblock/2013/05/07/scriptcs-gets-a-repl/ – Filip W May 11 '13 at 15:51

score 4 · Answer 7 · edited Jan 13 '10 at 18:14

Here is a Mono CsharpRepl which is what you are looking for.

This documents the features available in the C# interactive shell that is part of Mono's C# compiler. An interactive shell is usually referred to as a read eval print loop or repl. The C# interactive shell is built on top of the Mono.CSharp (http:/monodoc/N:Mono.CSharp) library, a library that provides a C# compiler service that can be used to evaluate expressions and statements on-the-fly.

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 10 '14 at 23:38

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I think CShell would be a nice contribution to answers given here. It provides code completion enabled REPL command window as well as a lightweight workspace management tools to include some scratch files and library references.

answered Jun 10 '14 at 23:38

Paul

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 27 '14 at 06:55

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With Roslyn CTP there now is a full C# interactive window from Microsoft direct in Visual Studio!! Works great! So far runs all my libraries. After install: Invoking View -> Other Windows -> C# Interactive from the menu.

answered Mar 27 '14 at 06:55

Gregor

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered May 28 '14 at 09:27

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I use ideone.com sometimes, but LINQPad is a good choice if an install is acceptable.

answered May 28 '14 at 09:27

Ian Newson

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+1 for reminding me of LINQPad, I have it installed but I rarely use it nowadays. It is not an interactive shell as such but amost. It is so quick to bash down one or more lines and see the output. It is great to get the syntax right with regular expressions for example. (LINQPad can be used for much more than that!) – Giuseppe Romagnuolo Feb 10 '16 at 16:19

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 13 '13 at 22:19

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If you are looking for a simple web based environment to crank out some C# code try coderpad.io Not sure if you can add libraries n' all but its a quick and simple solution if you are just interested in testing out several commands

answered Oct 13 '13 at 22:19

Pinky

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:27

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You can use this developed by Miguel De Icaza, is shipped with mono and have code completion

answered Jan 13 '10 at 17:27

Kristian Damian

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Is there an interactive interpreter for C#?

12 Answers12

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