C# Get var name to string

Question

greetings, could you please help? i need to get a variable (name) in string format. for example below i need to display "test" as string.

        int test = 69;
        //below does not work
        MessageBox.Show((string)test);
        // below works but displays the int value
        MessageBox.Show(test.ToString());

thank you for your time.

well i have an enum:

    public enum ShipOrientation
    {
        North,
        East,
        South,
        West
    }

and i do some processing based on direction and if int North then apply enum North direction.

"then apply enum direction" - what do you mean? Can you give a full sample that includes the variables that you wish to string-ize? — Eamon Nerbonne
– Eamon Nerbonne, Commented Feb 22, 2010 at 13:59

Leon van der Walt · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-22 13:13:16Z

5

not for variables, but if you promote your variable to a property on the class, you can use Expressions to achieve this.

good sample here

answered Feb 22, 2010 at 13:13

Leon van der Walt

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2 Comments

Gopher Over a year ago

And also you may use Reflection to retrieve member names. msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…

Leon van der Walt Over a year ago

generally the reflection approach would need a string as input to find the property

Eamon Nerbonne · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-22 13:09:24Z

3

This cannot be done normally - variable names are compiled out in C#.

On the other hand, if you can write the variable's name, you can just place quotation marks around it and treat it as a string.

Assuming that's not good enough for your scenario, there are a few hacks that can let you do something almost like this; but their usefulness kind of depends on what you're trying to do - why do you need to variable's name?

edited Feb 22, 2010 at 13:09

answered Feb 22, 2010 at 13:03

Eamon Nerbonne

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2 Comments

Will Vousden Over a year ago

Actually, this can be done, but the code is very hackish: msmvps.com/blogs/jon_skeet/archive/2009/12/09/…

Eamon Nerbonne Over a year ago

Yes, I realize: that's one of the hacks I'm referring to. At that point, you're no longer working with variables, but on type members - which can be reflected upon.

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