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private (C# Reference)

The private keyword is a member access modifier.

This article covers private access. The private keyword is also part of the private protected access modifier.

The C# language reference documents the most recently released version of the C# language. It also contains initial documentation for features in public previews for the upcoming language release.

The documentation identifies any feature first introduced in the last three versions of the language or in current public previews.

Tip

To find when a feature was first introduced in C#, consult the article on the C# language version history.

Private access is the least permissive access level. You can access private members only within the body of the class or the struct where you declare them, as shown in the following example:

class Employee
{
    private int _i;
    double _d;   // private access by default
}

Nested types in the same body can also access those private members.

If you reference a private member outside the class or the struct where you declare it, the compiler returns an error.

For a comparison of private with the other access modifiers, see Accessibility Levels and Access Modifiers.

In this example, the Employee class contains two private data members, _name and _salary. As private members, member methods are the only way to access them. The example adds public methods named GetName and Salary to allow controlled access to the private members. The _name member is accessed by way of a public method, and the _salary member is accessed by way of a public read-only property. For more information, see Properties.

class Employee2
{
    private readonly string _name = "FirstName, LastName";
    private readonly double _salary = 100.0;

    public string GetName()
    {
        return _name;
    }

    public double Salary
    {
        get { return _salary; }
    }
}

class PrivateTest
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var e = new Employee2();

        // The data members are inaccessible (private), so
        // they can't be accessed like this:
        //    string n = e._name;
        //    double s = e._salary;

        // '_name' is indirectly accessed via method:
        string n = e.GetName();

        // '_salary' is indirectly accessed via property
        double s = e.Salary;
    }
}

C# language specification

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

See also

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