int is an immutable value type that represents signed integers with values that range from negative 2,147,483,648 (which is represented by the int.MinValue constant) through positive 2,147,483,647 (which is represented by the int.MaxValue constant. The .NET Framework also includes an unsigned 32-bit integer value type, uint, which represents values that range from 0 to 4,294,967,295.

Instantiating an Int32 Value

You can instantiate an int value in several ways:

• You can declare an int variable and assign it a literal integer value that is within the range of the int data type. The following example declares two int variables and assigns them values in this way.

  code reference: System.Int32.Instantiation#1

• You can assign the value of an integer type whose range is a subset of the int type. This is a widening conversion that does not require a cast operator in C# or a conversion method in Visual Basic.

  code reference: System.Int32.Instantiation#4

• You can assign the value of a numeric type whose range exceeds that of the int type. This is a narrowing conversion, so it requires a cast operator in C# and a conversion method in Visual Basic if Option Strict is on. If the numeric value is a float, double, or decimal value that includes a fractional component, the handling of its fractional part depends on the compiler performing the conversion. The following example performs narrowing conversions to assign several numeric values to int variables.

  code reference: System.Int32.Instantiation#2

• You can call a method of the Convert class to convert any supported type to an int value. This is possible because int supports the IConvertible interface. The following example illustrates the conversion of an array of decimal values to int values.

  code reference: System.Convert.ToInt32#4

• You can call the int.Parse(string) or int.TryParse(string, Int32@) method to convert the string representation of an int value to an int. The string can contain either decimal or hexadecimal digits. The following example illustrates the parse operation by using both a decimal and a hexadecimal string.

  code reference: System.Int32.Instantiation#3

Performing Operations on Int32 Values

The int type supports standard mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, negation, and unary negation. Like the other integral types, the int type also supports the bitwise AND, OR, XOR, left shift, and right shift operators.

You can use the standard numeric operators to compare two int values, or you can call the int.CompareTo(int) or int.Equals(int) method.

You can also call the members of the Math class to perform a wide range of numeric operations, including getting the absolute value of a number, calculating the quotient and remainder from integral division, determining the maximum or minimum value of two integers, getting the sign of a number, and rounding a number.

Representing an Int32 as a String

The int type provides full support for standard and custom numeric format strings. (For more information, see Formatting Types, Standard Numeric Format Strings, and Custom Numeric Format Strings.)

To format an int value as an integral string with no leading zeros, you can call the parameterless int.ToString method. By using the "D" format specifier, you can also include a specified number of leading zeros in the string representation. By using the "N" format specifier, you can include group separators and specify the number of decimal digits to appear in the string representation of the number. By using the "X" format specifier, you can represent an int value as a hexadecimal string. The following example formats the elements in an array of int values in these four ways.

code reference: System.Int32.Formatting#1

You can also format an int value as a binary, octal, decimal, or hexadecimal string by calling the Convert.ToString(int, int) method and supplying the base as the method's second parameter. The following example calls this method to display the binary, octal, and hexadecimal representations of an array of integer values.

code reference: System.Int32.Formatting#2

Working with Non-Decimal 32-Bit Integer Values

In addition to working with individual integers as decimal values, you may want to perform bitwise operations with integer values, or work with the binary or hexadecimal representations of integer values. int values are represented in 31 bits, with the thirty-second bit used as a sign bit. Positive values are represented by using sign-and-magnitude representation. Negative values are in two's complement representation. This is important to keep in mind when you perform bitwise operations on int values or when you work with individual bits. In order to perform a numeric, Boolean, or comparison operation on any two non-decimal values, both values must use the same representation.

This type is safe for multithreaded operations.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Assembly Versions: 1.0.5000.0, 2.0.0.0, 4.0.0.0