The volatile keyword indicates that a field might be modified by multiple concurrently executing threads. Fields that are declared volatile are not subject to compiler optimizations that assume access by a single thread. This ensures that the most up-to-date value is present in the field at all times.
The volatile modifier is usually used for a field that is accessed by multiple threads without using the lock Statement (C# Reference) statement to serialize access. See How to: Create and Terminate Threads (C# Programming Guide) for an example of volatile in a multi-threaded scenario.
The volatile keyword can be applied to fields of these types:
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Reference types.
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Pointer types (in an unsafe context). Note that while the pointer itself can be volatile, the object that it points to cannot. In other words, you cannot declare a "pointer to volatile."
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Integral types such as sbyte, byte, short, ushort, int, uint, char, float, and bool.
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An enum type with an integral base type.
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Generic type parameters known to be reference types.
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IntPtr and UIntPtr.
The volatile keyword can only be applied to fields of a class or struct. Local variables cannot be declared volatile.
The following example shows how to declare a public field variable as volatile.
// csharp_volatile.cs
// compile with: /target:library
class Test
{
public volatile int i;
Test(int _i)
{
i = _i;
}
}
C# Language Specification
For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:
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3.10 Execution order
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10.4.3 Volatile fields
Reference
C# Keywords
Modifiers (C# Reference)
Concepts
C# Programming Guide
Other Resources
C# Reference