Access Modifiers (C# Reference)

Access modifiers are keywords used to specify the declared accessibility of a member or a type. This section introduces the five access modifiers:

• public
• protected
• internal
• private
• file

The following seven accessibility levels can be specified using the access modifiers:

• public: Access isn't restricted.
• protected: Access is limited to the containing class or types derived from the containing class.
• internal: Access is limited to the current assembly.
• protected internal: Access is limited to the current assembly or types derived from the containing class.
• private: Access is limited to the containing type.
• private protected: Access is limited to the containing class or types derived from the containing class within the current assembly.
• file: The declared type is only visible in the current source file. File scoped types are generally used for source generators.

This section also introduces the following concepts:

• Accessibility Levels: Using the access modifiers to declare levels of accessibility.
• Accessibility Domain: Specifies where, in the program sections, a member can be referenced.
• Restrictions on Using Accessibility Levels: A summary of the restrictions on using declared accessibility levels.

See also

• Add accessibility modifiers (style rule IDE0040)
• C# Keywords
• Access Modifiers
• Access Keywords
• Modifiers