ushort (C# Reference)

  • Article

The ushort keyword indicates an integral data type that stores values according to the size and range shown in the following table.

Type

Range

Size

.NET Framework type

ushort

0 to 65,535

Unsigned 16-bit integer

System.UInt16

Literals

You can declare and initialize a ushort variable such as this example:

ushort myShort = 65535;

In the previous declaration, the integer literal 65535 is implicitly converted from int to ushort. If the integer literal exceeds the range of ushort, a compilation error will occur.

A cast must be used when you call overloaded methods. Consider, for example, the following overloaded methods that use ushort and int parameters:

public static void SampleMethod(int i) {}
public static void SampleMethod(ushort s) {}

Using the ushort cast guarantees that the correct type is called, for example:

// Calls the method with the int parameter:
SampleMethod(5);
// Calls the method with the ushort parameter:
SampleMethod((ushort)5);

Conversions

There is a predefined implicit conversion from ushort to int, uint, long, ulong, float, double, or decimal.

There is a predefined implicit conversion from byte or char to ushort. Otherwise a cast must be used to perform an explicit conversion. Consider, for example, the following two ushort variables x and y:

ushort x = 5, y = 12;

The following assignment statement will produce a compilation error, because the arithmetic expression on the right side of the assignment operator evaluates to int by default.

ushort z = x + y;   // Error: conversion from int to ushort

To fix this problem, use a cast:

ushort z = (ushort)(x + y);   // OK: explicit conversion

It is possible though to use the following statements, where the destination variable has the same storage size or a larger storage size:

int m = x + y;
long n = x + y;

Notice also that there is no implicit conversion from floating-point types to ushort. For example, the following statement generates a compiler error unless an explicit cast is used:

// Error -- no implicit conversion from double:
ushort x = 3.0; 
// OK -- explicit conversion:
ushort y = (ushort)3.0;

For information about arithmetic expressions with mixed floating-point types and integral types, see float and double.

For more information about implicit numeric conversion rules, see the Implicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference).

C# Language Specification

For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:

  • 1.3 Types and Variables

  • 4.1.5 Integral Types

See Also

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Reference

C# Keywords

Integral Types Table (C# Reference)

Built-In Types Table (C# Reference)

Implicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference)

Explicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference)

UInt16

Other Resources

C# Reference