Updated: May 2009
Converts the string representation of the name or numeric value of one or more enumerated constants to an equivalent enumerated object. A parameter specifies whether the operation is case-sensitive.
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _ Public Shared Function Parse ( _ enumType As Type, _ value As String, _ ignoreCase As Boolean _ ) As Object
Dim enumType As Type Dim value As String Dim ignoreCase As Boolean Dim returnValue As Object returnValue = Enum.Parse(enumType, _ value, ignoreCase)
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)] public static Object Parse( Type enumType, string value, bool ignoreCase )
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)] public: static Object^ Parse( Type^ enumType, String^ value, bool ignoreCase )
public static function Parse( enumType : Type, value : String, ignoreCase : boolean ) : Object
enumType or value is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
enumType is not an Enum.
-or-
value is either an empty string ("") or only contains white space.
value is a name, but not one of the named constants defined for the enumeration.
value is outside the range of the underlying type of enumType.
The value parameter contains the string representation of an enumeration member's underlying value or named constant, or a list of named constants delimited by commas (,). One or more blank spaces can precede or follow each value, name, or comma in value. If value is a list, the return value is the value of the specified names combined with a bitwise OR operation.
If value is a name that does not correspond to a named constant of enumType, the method throws an ArgumentException. If value is the string representation of an integer that does not represent an underlying value of the enumType enumeration, the method returns an enumeration member whose underlying value is value converted to an integral type. If this behavior is undesirable, call the IsDefined method to ensure that a particular string representation of an integer is actually a member of enumType. The following example defines a Colors enumeration, calls the Parse(Type, String, Boolean) method to convert strings to their corresponding enumeration values, and calls the IsDefined method to ensure that particular integral values are underlying values in the Colors enumeration.
<Flags> Enum Colors As Integer None = 0 Red = 1 Green = 2 Blue = 4 End Enum Module Example Public Sub Main() Dim colorStrings() As String = {"0", "2", "8", "blue", "Blue", "Yellow", "Red, Green"} For Each colorString As String In colorStrings Try Dim colorValue As Colors = CType([Enum].Parse(GetType(Colors), colorString, True), Colors) If [Enum].IsDefined(GetType(Colors), colorValue) Or colorValue.ToString().Contains(",") Then Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1}.", colorString, colorValue.ToString()) Else Console.WriteLine("{0} is not an underlying value of the Colors enumeration.", colorString) End If Catch e As ArgumentException Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a member of the Colors enumeration.", colorString) End Try Next End Sub End Module ' The example displays the following output: ' Converted '0' to None. ' Converted '2' to Green. ' 8 is not an underlying value of the Colors enumeration. ' Converted 'blue' to Blue. ' Converted 'Blue' to Blue. ' Yellow is not a member of the Colors enumeration. ' Converted 'Red, Green' to Red, Green.
using System; [Flags] enum Colors { None=0, Red = 1, Green = 2, Blue = 4 }; public class Example { public static void Main() { string[] colorStrings = { "0", "2", "8", "blue", "Blue", "Yellow", "Red, Green" }; foreach (string colorString in colorStrings) { try { Colors colorValue = (Colors) Enum.Parse(typeof(Colors), colorString, true); if (Enum.IsDefined(typeof(Colors), colorValue) | colorValue.ToString().Contains(",")) Console.WriteLine("Converted '{0}' to {1}.", colorString, colorValue.ToString()); else Console.WriteLine("{0} is not an underlying value of the Colors enumeration.", colorString); } catch (ArgumentException) { Console.WriteLine("{0} is not a member of the Colors enumeration.", colorString); } } } } // The example displays the following output: // Converted '0' to None. // Converted '2' to Green. // 8 is not an underlying value of the Colors enumeration. // Converted 'blue' to Blue. // Converted 'Blue' to Blue. // Yellow is not a member of the Colors enumeration. // Converted 'Red, Green' to Red, Green.
The ignoreCase parameter specifies whether this operation is case-sensitive.
The following example uses the Parse(Type, String, Boolean) method to parse an array of strings created by calling the GetNames method. It also uses the Parse method to parse an enumeration value that consists of a bit field.
Imports System Public Class ParseTest <FlagsAttribute()> _ Enum Colors Red = 1 Green = 2 Blue = 4 Yellow = 8 End Enum Public Shared Sub Main() Console.WriteLine("The entries of the Colors enumeration are:") Dim colorName As String For Each colorName In [Enum].GetNames(GetType(Colors)) Console.WriteLine("{0}={1}", colorName, Convert.ToInt32([Enum].Parse(GetType(Colors), colorName))) Next colorName Console.WriteLine() Dim myOrange As Colors = CType([Enum].Parse(GetType(Colors), "Red, Yellow"), Colors) Console.WriteLine("The myOrange value {1} has the combined entries of {0}", myOrange, Convert.ToInt64(myOrange)) End Sub End Class 'This code example produces the following results: ' 'The entries of the Colors Enum are: 'Red=1 'Green=2 'Blue=4 'Yellow=8 ' 'The myOrange value 9 has the combined entries of Red, Yellow '
using System; public class ParseTest { [FlagsAttribute] enum Colors { Red = 1, Green = 2, Blue = 4, Yellow = 8 }; public static void Main() { Console.WriteLine("The entries of the Colors enumeration are:"); foreach (string colorName in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Colors))) { Console.WriteLine("{0}={1}", colorName, Convert.ToInt32(Enum.Parse(typeof(Colors), colorName))); } Console.WriteLine(); Colors myOrange = (Colors)Enum.Parse(typeof(Colors), "Red, Yellow"); Console.WriteLine("The myOrange value {1} has the combined entries of {0}", myOrange, Convert.ToInt64(myOrange)); } } /* This code example produces the following results: The entries of the Colors Enum are: Red=1 Green=2 Blue=4 Yellow=8 The myOrange value 9 has the combined entries of Red, Yellow */
using namespace System; [FlagsAttribute] enum class Colors { Red = 1, Green = 2, Blue = 4, Yellow = 8 }; int main() { Console::WriteLine( "The entries of the Colors enumeration are:" ); Array^ a = Enum::GetNames( Colors::typeid ); Int32 i = 0; while ( i < a->Length ) { Object^ o = a->GetValue( i ); Console::WriteLine( o->ToString() ); i++; } Console::WriteLine(); Object^ myOrange = Enum::Parse( Colors::typeid, "Red, Yellow" ); Console::WriteLine( "The myOrange value has the combined entries of {0}", myOrange ); } /* This code example produces the following results: The entries of the Colors Enum are: Red Green Blue Yellow The myOrange value has the combined entries of Red, Yellow */
import System; public class ParseTest { FlagsAttribute enum Colors { Red = 1, Green = 2, Blue = 4, Yellow = 8 }; public static function Main() { Console.WriteLine("The entries of the Colors enumeration are:"); for(var i : int in Enum.GetNames(Colors)) Console.WriteLine(Enum.GetNames(Colors).GetValue(i)); Console.WriteLine(); var myOrange : Colors = Colors(Enum.Parse(Colors, "Red, Yellow")); Console.WriteLine("The myOrange value has the combined entries of {0}", myOrange); } } ParseTest.Main(); /* This code example produces the following results: The entries of the Colors Enum are: Red Green Blue Yellow The myOrange value has the combined entries of Red, Yellow */
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Date
History
Reason
May 2009
Added OverflowException to the list of exceptions.
Content bug fix.
December 2008
Expanded the Remarks section and added an example.
Customer feedback.