How to enumerate an enum

Question

How can you enumerate an enum in C#?

E.g. the following code does not compile:

public enum Suit
{         


        

Answer 1

If you have:

enum Suit
{
   Spades,
   Hearts,
   Clubs,
   Diamonds
}

This:

foreach (var e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)))
{
    Console.WriteLine(e.ToString() + " = " + (int)e);
}

Will output:

Spades = 0
Hearts = 1
Clubs = 2
Diamonds = 3

Answer 2

LINQ Generic Way:

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

Usage:

        var enums = ToList<Enum>();

Answer 3

I made some extensions for easy enum usage. Maybe someone can use it...

public static class EnumExtensions
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets all items for an enum value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>(this Enum value)
    {
        foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            yield return (T)item;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets all items for an enum type.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllItems<T>() where T : struct
    {
        foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            yield return (T)item;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets all combined items from an enum value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    /// <example>
    /// Displays ValueA and ValueB.
    /// <code>
    /// EnumExample dummy = EnumExample.Combi;
    /// foreach (var item in dummy.GetAllSelectedItems<EnumExample>())
    /// {
    ///    Console.WriteLine(item);
    /// }
    /// </code>
    /// </example>
    public static IEnumerable<T> GetAllSelectedItems<T>(this Enum value)
    {
        int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

        foreach (object item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)))
        {
            int itemAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(item, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

            if (itemAsInt == (valueAsInt & itemAsInt))
            {
                yield return (T)item;
            }
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Determines whether the enum value contains a specific value.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="value">The value.</param>
    /// <param name="request">The request.</param>
    /// <returns>
    ///     <c>true</c> if value contains the specified value; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
    /// </returns>
    /// <example>
    /// <code>
    /// EnumExample dummy = EnumExample.Combi;
    /// if (dummy.Contains<EnumExample>(EnumExample.ValueA))
    /// {
    ///     Console.WriteLine("dummy contains EnumExample.ValueA");
    /// }
    /// </code>
    /// </example>
    public static bool Contains<T>(this Enum value, T request)
    {
        int valueAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(value, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        int requestAsInt = Convert.ToInt32(request, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

        if (requestAsInt == (valueAsInt & requestAsInt))
        {
            return true;
        }

        return false;
    }
}

The enum itself must be decorated with the FlagsAttribute:

[Flags]
public enum EnumExample
{
    ValueA = 1,
    ValueB = 2,
    ValueC = 4,
    ValueD = 8,
    Combi = ValueA | ValueB
}

Answer 4

I tried many ways and got the result from this code:

For getting a list of int from an enum, use the following. It works!

List<int> listEnumValues = new List<int>();
YourEnumType[] myEnumMembers = (YourEnumType[])Enum.GetValues(typeof(YourEnumType));
foreach ( YourEnumType enumMember in myEnumMembers)
{
    listEnumValues.Add(enumMember.GetHashCode());
}

Answer 5

Use Cast<T>:

var suits = Enum.GetValues(typeof(Suit)).Cast<Suit>();

There you go, IEnumerable<Suit>.

Answer 6

My solution works in .NET Compact Framework (3.5) and supports type checking at compile time:

public static List<T> GetEnumValues<T>() where T : new() {
    T valueType = new T();
    return typeof(T).GetFields()
        .Select(fieldInfo => (T)fieldInfo.GetValue(valueType))
        .Distinct()
        .ToList();
}

public static List<String> GetEnumNames<T>() {
    return typeof (T).GetFields()
        .Select(info => info.Name)
        .Distinct()
        .ToList();
}

• If anyone knows how to get rid of the T valueType = new T(), I'd be happy to see a solution.

A call would look like this:

List<MyEnum> result = Utils.GetEnumValues<MyEnum>();