All Enum items to string (C#)

Question

How to convert all elements from enum to string?

Assume I have:

public enum LogicOperands {
        None,
        Or,
        And,
        Custom
}

And what I want to archive is something like:

string LogicOperandsStr = LogicOperands.ToString();
// expected result:  "None,Or,And,Custom"

Checking this answer may useful too: https://stackoverflow.com/a/12022617/1830909 — QMaster, Nov 22 '17 at 16:53

score 86 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:10

86

string s = string.Join(",",Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOperands)));

answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:10

Moose

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score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 17 '14 at 19:10

13

You have to do something like this:

var sbItems = new StringBuilder()
foreach (var item in Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOperands)))
{
    if(sbItems.Length>0)
        sbItems.Append(',');
    sbItems.Append(item);
}

Or in Linq:

var list = Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOperands)).Aggregate((x,y) => x + "," + y);

edited Jun 17 '14 at 19:10

granadaCoder

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answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:08

Keltex

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1

I was thinking of the similar linq version, you beat me. +1 – Vivek Apr 10 '09 at 15:15
2

Please don't abuse StringBuilder like that! – Randolpho Apr 10 '09 at 15:25
1

Randolpho what's wrong with the stringbuilder code ? What abuse ? – Petar Petrov Apr 10 '09 at 15:42
1

Indeed, it looks okay to me. Using String.Join is neater, but I don't see any "abuse" here. – Jon Skeet Apr 10 '09 at 15:44
1

Unless you've got dozens of items in the enumeration, you're better off with a string concatenation. – Randolpho Apr 10 '09 at 15:55
1

Further reading: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/529999/when-to-use-string-builder/530007 – Randolpho Apr 10 '09 at 16:00
2

Wait... didn't you write the correct answer to that Jon? This is a trivial loop. StringBuilder is overkill. – Randolpho Apr 10 '09 at 16:00

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:12

2

string LogicOperandsStr 
     = Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOoperands)).Aggregate((current, next)=> 
                                                       current + "," + next);

answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:12

Vivek

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:45

Although @Moose's answer is the best, I suggest you cache the value, since you might be using it frequently, but it's 100% unlikely to change during execution -- unless you're modifying and re-compiling the enum. :)

Like so:

public static class LogicOperandsHelper
{
  public static readonly string OperandList = 
    string.Join(",", Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOperands)));
}

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 12 '14 at 18:11

A simple and generic way to convert a enum to something you can interact:

public static Dictionary<int, string> ToList<T>() where T : struct
{
   return ((IEnumerable<T>)Enum.GetValues(typeof(T))).ToDictionary(item => Convert.ToInt32(item), item => item.ToString());
}

and then:

var enums = EnumHelper.ToList<MyEnum>();

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:07

0

foreach (string value in Enum.GetNames(typeof(LogicOoperands))
{
    str = str + "," + value;
}

answered Apr 10 '09 at 15:07

CookieOfFortune

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You have to trim last comma – Yargicx Feb 08 '18 at 18:23

All Enum items to string (C#)

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