Statements (C# Programming Guide)
A statement is a procedural building-block from which all C# programs are constructed. A statement can declare a local variable or constant, call a method, create an object, or assign a value to a variable, property, or field. A control statement can create a loop, such as a for loop, or make a decision and branch to a new block of code, such as an if or switch statement. Statements are usually terminated by a semicolon. For more information, see Statement Types (C# Reference).
A series of statements surrounded by curly braces form a block of code. A method body is one example of a code block. Code blocks often follow a control statement. Variables or constants declared within a code block are only available to statements within the same code block. For example, the following code shows a method block and a code block following a control statement:
bool IsPositive(int number)
{
if (number > 0)
{
return true;
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
Statements in C# often contain expressions. An expression in C# is a fragment of code containing a literal value, a simple name, or an operator and its operands. Most common expressions, when evaluated, yield a literal value, a variable, or an object property or object indexer access. Whenever a variable, object property or object indexer access is identified from an expression, the value of that item is used as the value of the expression. In C#, an expression can be placed anywhere that a value or object is required as long as the expression ultimately evaluates to the required type.
Some expressions evaluate to a namespace, a type, a method group, or an event access. These special-purpose expressions are only valid at certain times, usually as part of a larger expression, and will result in a compiler error when used improperly.
Related Sections
C# Language Specification
For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:
1.5 Statements
7 Expressions
8 Statements