Enum.ToString Method (String)
[ This article is for Windows Phone 8 developers. If you’re developing for Windows 10, see the latest documentation. ]
Converts the value of this instance to its equivalent string representation using the specified format.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Parameters
- format
- Type: System.String
A format string.
Return Value
Type: System.StringThe string representation of the value of this instance as specified by format.
| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| FormatException | format contains an invalid specification. |
The format parameter can contain the "G" or "g", "D" or "d", "X" or "x", and "F" or "f" format strings. If format is Nothing or an empty string (""), the general format specifier ("G") is used. For more information about formatting enumeration values, see Enumeration Format Strings. For more information about formatting in general, see Formatting Types.
Notes to CallersIf multiple enumeration members have the same underlying value and you attempt to retrieve the string representation of an enumeration member's name based on its underlying value, your code should not make any assumptions about which name the method will return. For example, the following enumeration defines two members, Shade.Gray and Shade.Grey, that have the same underlying value.
The following method call attempts to retrieve the name of a member of the Shade enumeration whose underlying value is 1. The method can return either "Gray" or "Grey", and your code should not make any assumptions about which string will be returned.
The following example demonstrates how to convert an enumerated value to a string.
' Sample for Enum.ToString(String) Class Example Enum Colors Red Green Blue Yellow = 12 End Enum 'Colors Public Shared Sub Demo(ByVal outputBlock As System.Windows.Controls.TextBlock) Dim myColor As Colors = Colors.Yellow outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Colors.Red = {0}", Colors.Red.ToString("d")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Colors.Green = {0}", Colors.Green.ToString("d")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Colors.Blue = {0}", Colors.Blue.ToString("d")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("Colors.Yellow = {0}", Colors.Yellow.ToString("d")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("{0}myColor = Colors.Yellow{0}", vbCrLf) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""g"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("g")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""G"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("G")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""x"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("x")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""X"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("X")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""d"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("d")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""D"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("D")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""f"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("f")) & vbCrLf outputBlock.Text &= String.Format("myColor.ToString(""F"") = {0}", myColor.ToString("F")) & vbCrLf End Sub 'Main End Class 'Sample ' 'This example produces the following results: ' 'Colors.Red = 0 'Colors.Green = 1 'Colors.Blue = 2 'Colors.Yellow = 12 ' 'myColor = Colors.Yellow ' 'myColor.ToString("g") = Yellow 'myColor.ToString("G") = Yellow 'myColor.ToString("x") = 0000000C 'myColor.ToString("X") = 0000000C 'myColor.ToString("d") = 12 'myColor.ToString("D") = 12 'myColor.ToString("f") = Yellow 'myColor.ToString("F") = Yellow '