C# 7 Default Literal Expressions

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A default literal expression produces the default value of a type. The default keyword is not a new one, it is being used for a long time. However, some enhancement has been done for default literal expression.

  • The default literal expressions are an enhancement to default value expressions.
  • These expressions initialize a variable to the default value.

Before C# 7.1, we were able to use the default keyword as default(T) where T can be a value type or reference type.

int intValue = default(int);
double doubleValue = default(double);
bool boolValue = default(bool);
string str = default(string);
int? nullableInt = default(int?);

Action<int, bool> action = default(Action<int, bool>);
Predicate<string> predicate = default(Predicate<string>);
List<string> list = default(List<string>);
Dictionary<int, string> dictionary = default(Dictionary<int, string>);

In C# 7.1, the default value expressions are enhanced by removing the need to pass T as a parameter while finding the default value of type.

double doubleValue = default;
bool boolValue = default;
string str = default;
int? nullableInt = default;

Action<int, bool> action = default;
Predicate<string> predicate = default;
List<string> list = default;
Dictionary<int, string> dictionary = default;

The Type is now inferred rather than passed as an argument. The default literal expressions also work with method arguments and return values.

public int Add(int x, int y = default, int z = default)
{
    return x + y + z;
}
  • As you can see that the new default literal expressions let us write a little bit shorter code that is also easier to read as there are fewer parentheses and type names involved.
  • The default literal expression produces the same value as the default(T) expression where T is the inferred type.


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