Redundant type conversion

Question

In a code example:

int age;
...
age = (int)Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());

I see no point to put (int) before conversion. Can I safely remove it to:

age = Convert.ToInt32(Console.ReadLine());

There are the same cases, such as:

height = (double)Convert.ToDouble(Console.ReadLine());

For int32 there is no problem but for int64 there is error `Error 1 Cannot implicitly convert type 'long' to 'int'. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?) ` — zahmati, May 03 '15 at 06:08
That's because an `int64` (a `long`) does not fit into an int (your variable age). — Pierre-Luc Pineault, May 03 '15 at 06:09
Seem they can be safely removed if the output variables are defined correctly. — zahmati, May 03 '15 at 06:12
If you have a tool like `ReSharper`, it'll even flag it as "Type cast is redundant". It's simply cluttering the code. — Pierre-Luc Pineault, May 03 '15 at 06:14

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:22

The cast here is a no-op, as ToInt32 returns an int anyway and int and Int32 are the same thing.

So yes, you can and should remove the cast there. My guess is that the original author of the code just did not know C# very well.

If you're converting an Int64 that's really a long so you should assign it to a long and not an integer. If all you care is being able to use it as a number and you're not returning it - I recommend just assigning it to a var and letting type inference take care of it for you.

Redundant type conversion

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