How to understand C# warning IDE0059: "Unecessary assignment"

Coreysan 1,691

I have the following scenario:

public void testmylife (ref string a)
{
string wstr = string.empty;

if (a == 1)
{
wstr = "Drop dead";
}

if (a == 2)
{
wstr = "Stay alive";
}
}

I get IDE0059. How do I avoid that warning?

Accepted answer

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 64,396 Reputation points

2022-04-14T18:04:07.407+00:00
as there is no code that uses the value wstr is set to, there is no point in setting a value to it. if you removed the unneeded assignments, you would get a warning about an unused variable.

your code snippet could be simplified to:

public void testmylife (ref string a) { }

and function the same:
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Coreysan 1,691 Reputation points

2022-04-14T19:02:15.717+00:00

@Bruce (SqlWork.com)
Thanks for the answer! For the sake of brevity, I left out some code in this snippet, but your answer helped me realize something about how I structure code and use variables.

I have this habit of initializing variables first, then as I wrote code, I might only use it inside the braces. This points out that I could just as easily start with a declaration inside the braces,
and save myself leaving it unused at the top.

Again, thank you for helping me see this bad habit!
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