How to Compare Flags in C#?
if ((testItem & FlagTest.Flag1) == FlagTest.Flag1)
{
// Do something
}
(testItem & FlagTest.Flag1)
is a bitwise AND operation.
FlagTest.Flag1
is equivalent to 001
with OP's enum. Now let's say testItem
has Flag1 and Flag2 (so it's bitwise 101
):
001
&101
----
001 == FlagTest.Flag1
For those who have trouble visualizing what is happening with the accepted solution (which is this),
if ((testItem & FlagTest.Flag1) == FlagTest.Flag1)
{
// Do stuff.
}
testItem
(as per the question) is defined as,
testItem
= flag1 | flag2
= 001 | 010
= 011
Then, in the if statement, the left hand side of the comparison is,
(testItem & flag1)
= (011 & 001)
= 001
And the full if statement (that evaluates to true if flag1
is set in testItem
),
(testItem & flag1) == flag1
= (001) == 001
= true
In .NET 4 there is a new method Enum.HasFlag. This allows you to write:
if ( testItem.HasFlag( FlagTest.Flag1 ) )
{
// Do Stuff
}
which is much more readable, IMO.
The .NET source indicates that this performs the same logic as the accepted answer:
public Boolean HasFlag(Enum flag) {
if (!this.GetType().IsEquivalentTo(flag.GetType())) {
throw new ArgumentException(
Environment.GetResourceString(
"Argument_EnumTypeDoesNotMatch",
flag.GetType(),
this.GetType()));
}
ulong uFlag = ToUInt64(flag.GetValue());
ulong uThis = ToUInt64(GetValue());
// test predicate
return ((uThis & uFlag) == uFlag);
}