Datatypes Conversion in C#

• Implicit conversions
• Explicit conversions
• Difference between Parse() and TryParse()

Implicit conversion

Implicit conversion is done by the compiler

1. when there is no loss of information if the conversion is done
2. If there is no possibility of throwing exceptions during the conversion

Example: Write a program to convert integer to float with the use of variables.

In this case no loss of information, hence no need of explicit conversion.

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        int a = 10;
        float f = a;
        Console.WriteLine(f); //Output will be 10
    }
}

Explicit Conversion

When there is data loss situation in conversion, we need to convert that data explicitly. See below example.

Example: Write a program to convert float to integer with the use of variables.

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        float f = 123.45F;
        int i = (int)f;             //using cast() operator
        int j = Convert.ToInt32(f); //using Convert class
        Console.WriteLine(i);       //Output will be 123
        Console.WriteLine(j);       //Output will be 123
    }
}

Difference between Parse() and TryParse()

Use of Parse() method:

Write a program to save 100 as a string in string variable. Assign string variable value to the integer variable using parse method

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string strNumber = "100";
        int i = int.Parse(strNumber);
        Console.WriteLine(i);           //output will be 100
    }
}

Use of TryParse() method:

When your string contains non-numeric characters and try to assign that string value to interger, you will get complier error. To avoid the exception, we can make use of TryParse() method as below:

Write a program to save "100ABC" as a string in string variable. Try assigning this string variable value to the integer variable.

using System;
class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        string strNumber = "100ABC";
        int result = 0;
        bool isConversionSuccessful = int.TryParse(strNumber, out result);
        if (isConversionSuccessful) {
            Console.WriteLine(result);
        }
        else {
            Console.WriteLine("please enter a valid number");
        }
    }
}

Output