protected (C#)

C# Language Reference

protected (C# Reference)

The protected keyword is a member access modifier. A protected member is accessible within its class and by derived classes. For a comparison of protected with the other access modifiers, see Accessibility Levels.

A protected member of a base class is accessible in a derived class only if the access takes place through the derived class type. For example, consider the following code segment:

// protected_keyword.cs
using System;
class A
{
    protected int x = 123;
}

class B : A
{
    static void Main()
    {
        A a = new A();
        B b = new B();

        // Error CS1540, because x can only be accessed by
        // classes derived from A.
        // a.x = 10; 
        
        // OK, because this class derives from A.
        b.x = 10;   
    }
}

The statement a.x =10 generates an error because A is not derived from B.

Struct members cannot be protected because the struct cannot be inherited.

Example

In this example, the class DerivedPoint is derived from Point; therefore, you can access the protected members of the base class directly from the derived class.

// protected_keyword_2.cs
using System;
class Point 
{
    protected int x; 
    protected int y;
}

class DerivedPoint: Point 
{
    static void Main() 
    {
        DerivedPoint dpoint = new DerivedPoint();

        // Direct access to protected members:
        dpoint.x = 10;
        dpoint.y = 15;
        Console.WriteLine("x = {0}, y = {1}", dpoint.x, dpoint.y); 
    }
}

Output

x = 10, y = 15

Comments

If you change the access levels of x and y to private, the compiler will issue the error messages:

'Point.y' is inaccessible due to its protection level.

'Point.x' is inaccessible due to its protection level.

C# Language Specification

For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:

3.5.1 Declared Accessibility
3.5.3 Protected access for instance members
3.5.4 Accessibility constraints
10.2.3 Access Modifiers

Output

Reference

Concepts

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