#define lets you define a symbol, such that, by using the symbol as the expression passed to the #if directive, the expression will evaluate to true.

#define symbol

where:

symbol

The name of the symbol to define.

Remarks

Symbols can be used to specify conditions for compilation. You can test for the symbol with either #if or #elif. You can also use the conditional attribute to perform conditional compilation.

You can define a symbol, but you cannot assign a value to a symbol. The #define directive must appear in the file before you use any instructions that are not also directives.

You can also define a symbol with the /define compiler option. You can undefine a symbol with #undef.

A symbol that you define with /define or with #define does not conflict with a variable of the same name. That is, a variable name should not be passed to a preprocessor directive and a symbol can only be evaluated by a preprocessor directive.

The scope of a symbol created with #define is the file in which it was defined.

Example

See #if for an example of how to use #define.

See Also

C# Preprocessor Directives | Conditional Methods Tutorial