Statements (C# Programming Guide)

The actions that a program takes are expressed in statements. Common actions include declaring variables, assigning values, calling methods, looping through collections, and branching to one or another block of code, depending on a given condition. The order in which statements are executed in a program is called the flow of control or flow of execution. The flow of control may vary every time that a program is run, depending on how the program reacts to input that it receives at run time.

A statement can consist of a single line of code that ends in a semicolon, or a series of single-line statements in a block. A statement block is enclosed in {} brackets and can contain nested blocks. The following code shows two examples of single-line statements, and a multi-line statement block:

static void Main() 
    {
        // Declaration statement. 
        int counter;

        // Assignment statement.
        counter = 1;

        // Error! This is an expression, not an expression statement. 
        // counter + 1;  

        // Declaration statements with initializers are functionally 
        // equivalent to a declaration statement followed by assignment statement:          
        int[] radii = { 15, 32, 108, 74, 9 }; // Declare and initialize an array. 
        const double pi = 3.14159; // Declare and initialize a constant.           

        // foreach statement block that contains multiple statements. 
        foreach (int radius in radii)
        {
            // Declaration statement with initializer. 
            double circumference = pi * (2 * radius);

            // Expression statement (method invocation). A single-line 
            // statement can span multiple text lines because line breaks 
            // are treated as white space, which is ignored by the compiler.
            System.Console.WriteLine("Radius of circle #{0} is {1}. Circumference = {2:N2}",
                                    counter, radius, circumference);

            // Expression statement (postfix increment).
            counter++;

        } // End of foreach statement block
    } // End of Main method body.
} // End of SimpleStatements class. 
/*
   Output:
    Radius of circle #1 = 15. Circumference = 94.25
    Radius of circle #2 = 32. Circumference = 201.06
    Radius of circle #3 = 108. Circumference = 678.58
    Radius of circle #4 = 74. Circumference = 464.96
    Radius of circle #5 = 9. Circumference = 56.55
*/

Types of Statements

The following table lists the various types of statements in C# and their associated keywords, with links to topics that include more information:

Category	C# keywords / notes
Declaration statements	A declaration statement introduces a new variable or constant. A variable declaration can optionally assign a value to the variable. In a constant declaration, the assignment is required. // Variable declaration statements.  double area; double radius = 2; // Constant declaration statement.  const double pi = 3.14159;
Expression statements	Expression statements that calculate a value must store the value in a variable. // Expression statement (assignment). area = 3.14 * (radius * radius); // Error. Not a statement because no assignment:  //circ * 2;  // Expression statement (method invocation). System.Console.WriteLine(); // Expression statement (new object creation). System.Collections.Generic.List<string> strings = new System.Collections.Generic.List<string>();
Selection statements	Selection statements enable you to branch to different sections of code, depending on one or more specified conditions. For more information, see the following topics: if, else, switch, case
Iteration statements	Iteration statements enable you to loop through collections like arrays, or perform the same set of statements repeatedly until a specified condition is met. For more information, see the following topics: do, for, foreach, in, while
Jump statements	Jump statements transfer control to another section of code. For more information, see the following topics: break, continue, default, goto, return, yield
Exception handling statements	Exception handling statements enable you to gracefully recover from exceptional conditions that occur at run time. For more information, see the following topics: throw, try-catch, try-finally, try-catch-finally
Checked and unchecked	Checked and unchecked statements enable you to specify whether numerical operations are allowed to cause an overflow when the result is stored in a variable that is too small to hold the resulting value. For more information, see checked and unchecked.
The fixed statement	The fixed statement prevents the garbage collector from relocating a movable variable. For more information, see fixed.
The lock statement	The lock statement enables you to limit access to blocks of code to only one thread at a time. For more information, see lock.
Labeled statements	You can give a statement a label and then use the goto keyword to jump to the labeled statement. (See the example in the following row.)
The empty statement	The empty statement consists of a single semicolon. It does nothing and can be used in places where a statement is required but no action needs to be performed. The following examples show two uses for an empty statement: void ProcessMessages() { while (ProcessMessage()) ; // Statement needed here. } void F() { //...  if (done) goto exit; //... exit: ; // Statement needed here. }

Embedded Statements

Some statements, including do, while, for, and foreach, always have an embedded statement that follows them. This embedded statement may be either a single statement or multiple statements enclosed by {} brackets in a statement block. Even single-line embedded statements can be enclosed in {} brackets, as shown in the following example:

// Recommended style. Embedded statement in a block. 
foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
                        System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
{
    System.Console.WriteLine(s);
}

// Not recommended. 
foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
                        System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
    System.Console.WriteLine(s);

An embedded statement that is not enclosed in {} brackets cannot be a declaration statement or a labeled statement. This is shown in the following example:

if(pointB == true)
    //Error CS1023: 
    int radius = 5; 

Put the embedded statement in a block to fix the error:

if(b == true)
{
    // OK:
    System.DateTime d = System.DateTime.Now;
    System.Console.WriteLine(d.ToLongDateString());
}

Nested Statement Blocks

Statement blocks can be nested, as shown in the following code:

foreach (string s in System.IO.Directory.GetDirectories(
    System.Environment.CurrentDirectory))
{
    if (s.StartsWith("CSharp"))
    {
        if (s.EndsWith("TempFolder"))
        {
            return s;
        }
    }

}
return "Not found.";

Unreachable Statements

If the compiler determines that the flow of control can never reach a particular statement under any circumstances, it will produce warning CS0162, as shown in the following example:

// An over-simplified example of unreachable code. 
const int val = 5;
if (val < 4)
{
    System.Console.WriteLine("I'll never write anything."); //CS0162
}

Related Sections

• Statement Keywords (C# Reference)

• Expressions (C# Programming Guide)

• Operators (C# Programming Guide)

C# Language Specification

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

• 1.5 Statements

• 8 Statements

See Also

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Change History

Date	History	Reason
July 2008	Added new code examples and table, and revised the text.	Information enhancement.