Type Conversion

Type conversion is basically type casting, or converting one type of data to another type. In C#, type casting has two forms:

Implicit type conversion - these conversions are performed by C# in a type-safe manner. Examples are conversions from smaller to larger integral types, and conversions from derived classes to base classes.

Explicit type conversion - these conversions are done explicitly by users using the pre-defined functions. Explicit conversions require a cast operator.

The following example shows an explicit type conversion:

namespace TypeConversionApplication
{
    class ExplicitConversion
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            double d = 5673.74;
            int i;

            // cast double to int.
            i = (int)d;
            Console.WriteLine(i);
            Console.ReadKey();
            
        }
    }
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

5673
C# Type Conversion Methods
C# provides the following built-in type conversion methods:

S.N Methods & Description
1 ToBoolean
Converts a type to a Boolean value, where possible.
2 ToByte
Converts a type to a byte.
3 ToChar
Converts a type to a single Unicode character, where possible.
4 ToDateTime
Converts a type (integer or string type) to date-time structures.
5 ToDecimal
Converts a floating point or integer type to a decimal type.
6 ToDouble
Converts a type to a double type.
7 ToInt16
Converts a type to a 16-bit integer.
8 ToInt32
Converts a type to a 32-bit integer.
9 ToInt64
Converts a type to a 64-bit integer.
10 ToSbyte
Converts a type to a signed byte type.
11 ToSingle
Converts a type to a small floating point number.
12 ToString
Converts a type to a string.
13 ToType
Converts a type to a specified type.
14 ToUInt16
Converts a type to an unsigned int type.
15 ToUInt32
Converts a type to an unsigned long type.
16 ToUInt64
Converts a type to an unsigned big integer.
The following example converts various value types to string type:

namespace TypeConversionApplication
{
    class StringConversion
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int i = 75;
            float f = 53.005f;
            double d = 2345.7652;
            bool b = true;

            Console.WriteLine(i.ToString());
            Console.WriteLine(f.ToString());
            Console.WriteLine(d.ToString());
            Console.WriteLine(b.ToString());
            Console.ReadKey();
            
        }
    }
}
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces following result:

75
53.005
2345.7652
True