Most efficient way to parse a flagged enum to a list

Question

I have a flagged enum and need to retrieve the names of all values set on it.

I am currently taking advantage of the enum\'s ToString() method which returns the eleme

Answer 1

Why do you need a list? Everything is already stored in the flags:

[Flags]
enum Roles
{
    Read = 0x1,
    Write = 0x2,
    Delete = 0x4,
}

Then assign roles:

var roles = Roles.Read | Roles.Write;

And whenever you need to check if a given role has been you don't need to look in a list, but simply look in the roles enumeration:

if ((roles & Roles.Read) == Roles.Read)
{
    // The user has read permission
}
if ((roles & Roles.Write) == Roles.Write)
{
    // The user has write permission
}