Statements (C# Programming Guide)

The actions that a program takes are expressed in statements. Common actions include declaring variables, assigning values, calling methods, looping through collections, and branching to one or another block of code, depending on a given condition. The order in which statements are executed in a program is called the flow of control or flow of execution. The flow of control may vary every time that a program is run, depending on how the program reacts to input that it receives at run time.

A statement can consist of a single line of code that ends in a semicolon, or a series of single-line statements in a block. A statement block is enclosed in {} brackets and can contain nested blocks. The following code shows two examples of single-line statements, and a multi-line statement block:

    static void Main()
    {
        // Declaration statement.
        int counter;

        // Assignment statement.
        counter = 1;

        // Error! This is an expression, not an expression statement.
        // counter + 1; 

        // Declaration statements with initializers are functionally
        // equivalent to  declaration statement followed by assignment statement:         
        int[] radii = { 15, 32, 108, 74, 9 }; // Declare and initialize an array.
        const double pi = 3.14159; // Declare and initialize  constant.          

        // foreach statement block that contains multiple statements.
        foreach (int radius in radii)
        {
            // Declaration statement with initializer.
            double circumference = pi * (2 * radius);

            // Expression statement (method invocation). A single-line
            // statement can span multiple text lines because line breaks
            // are treated as white space, which is ignored by the compiler.
            System.Console.WriteLine("Radius of circle #{0} is {1}. Circumference = {2:N2}",
                                    counter, radius, circumference);

            // Expression statement (postfix increment).
            counter++;

        } // End of foreach statement block
    } // End of Main method body.
} // End of SimpleStatements class.
/*
   Output:
    Radius of circle #1 = 15. Circumference = 94.25
    Radius of circle #2 = 32. Circumference = 201.06
    Radius of circle #3 = 108. Circumference = 678.58
    Radius of circle #4 = 74. Circumference = 464.96
    Radius of circle #5 = 9. Circumference = 56.55
*/

Types of Statements

The following table lists the various types of statements in C# and their associated keywords, with links to topics that include more information:

// Variable declaration statements.
double area;
double radius = 2;

// Constant declaration statement.
const double pi = 3.14159;

// Expression statement (assignment).
area = 3.14 * (radius * radius);

// Error. Not  statement because no assignment:
//circ * 2;

// Expression statement (method invocation).
System.Console.WriteLine();

// Expression statement (new object creation).
System.Collections.Generic.List<string> strings =
    new System.Collections.Generic.List<string>();

void ProcessMessages()
{
    while (ProcessMessage())
        ; // Statement needed here.
}

void F()
{
    //...
    if (done) goto exit;
//...
exit:
    ; // Statement needed here.
}

Embedded Statements

Some statements, including do, while, for, and foreach, always have an embedded statement that follows them. This embedded statement may be either a single statement or multiple statements enclosed by {} brackets in a statement block. Even single-line embedded statements can be enclosed in {} brackets, as shown in the following example:

// Recommended style. Embedded statement in  block.
foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
                        System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
{
    System.Console.WriteLine(s);
}

// Not recommended.
foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
                        System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
    System.Console.WriteLine(s);

An embedded statement that is not enclosed in {} brackets cannot be a declaration statement or a labeled statement. This is shown in the following example:

if(pointB == true)
    //Error CS1023:
    int radius = 5; 

Put the embedded statement in a block to fix the error:

if (b == true)
{
    // OK:
    System.DateTime d = System.DateTime.Now;
    System.Console.WriteLine(d.ToLongDateString());
}

Nested Statement Blocks

Statement blocks can be nested, as shown in the following code:

foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
    System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
{
    if (s.StartsWith("CSharp"))
    {
        if (s.EndsWith("TempFolder"))
        {
            return s;
        }
    }

}
return "Not found.";

Unreachable Statements

If the compiler determines that the flow of control can never reach a particular statement under any circumstances, it will produce warning CS0162, as shown in the following example:

// An over-simplified example of unreachable code.
const int val = 5;
if (val < 4)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("I'll never write anything."); //CS0162
}

Related Sections

• Statement Keywords (C# Reference)

• Expressions (C# Programming Guide)

• Operators (C# Programming Guide)

C# Language Specification

For more information, see the C# Language Specification. The language specification is the definitive source for C# syntax and usage.

See Also

Concepts

C# Programming Guide