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! (null-forgiving) operator (C# reference)

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The unary postfix ! operator is the null-forgiving, or null-suppression, operator. In an enabled nullable annotation context, you use the null-forgiving operator to suppress all nullable warnings for the preceding expression. The unary prefix ! operator is the logical negation operator. The null-forgiving operator has no effect at run time. It only affects the compiler's static flow analysis by changing the null state of the expression. At run time, expression x! evaluates to the result of the underlying expression x.

For more information about the nullable reference types feature, see Nullable reference types.

Examples

One of the use cases of the null-forgiving operator is in testing the argument validation logic. For example, consider the following class:

#nullable enable
public class Person
{
    public Person(string name) => Name = name ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(name));

    public string Name { get; }
}

Using the MSTest test framework, you can create the following test for the validation logic in the constructor:

[TestMethod, ExpectedException(typeof(ArgumentNullException))]
public void NullNameShouldThrowTest()
{
    var person = new Person(null!);
}

Without the null-forgiving operator, the compiler generates the following warning for the preceding code: Warning CS8625: Cannot convert null literal to non-nullable reference type. By using the null-forgiving operator, you inform the compiler that passing null is expected and shouldn't be warned about.

You can also use the null-forgiving operator when you definitely know that an expression can't be null but the compiler doesn't manage to recognize that. In the following example, if the IsValid method returns true, its argument isn't null and you can safely dereference it:

public static void Main()
{
    Person? p = Find("John");
    if (IsValid(p))
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Found {p!.Name}");
    }
}

public static bool IsValid(Person? person)
    => person is not null && person.Name is not null;

Without the null-forgiving operator, the compiler generates the following warning for the p.Name code: Warning CS8602: Dereference of a possibly null reference.

If you can modify the IsValid method, you can use the NotNullWhen attribute to inform the compiler that an argument of the IsValid method can't be null when the method returns true:

public static void Main()
{
    Person? p = Find("John");
    if (IsValid(p))
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Found {p.Name}");
    }
}

public static bool IsValid([NotNullWhen(true)] Person? person)
    => person is not null && person.Name is not null;

In the preceding example, you don't need to use the null-forgiving operator because the compiler has enough information to find out that p can't be null inside the if statement. For more information about the attributes that allow you to provide additional information about the null state of a variable, see Upgrade APIs with attributes to define null expectations.

C# language specification

For more information, see The null-forgiving operator section of the draft of the nullable reference types specification.

See also