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short (C# Reference) 

  • Article

The short keyword denotes an integral data type that stores values according to the size and range shown in the following table.

Type Range Size .NET Framework type

short

-32,768 to 32,767

Signed 16-bit integer

System.Int16

Literals

You can declare and initialize a short variable like this example:

short x = 32767;

In the preceding declaration, the integer literal 32767 is implicitly converted from int to short. If the integer literal does not fit into a short storage location, a compilation error will occur.

A cast must be used when calling overloaded methods. Consider, for example, the following overloaded methods that use short and int parameters:

public static void SampleMethod(int i) {}
public static void SampleMethod(short s) {}

Using the short cast guarantees that the correct type is called, for example:

SampleMethod(5);         // Calling the method with the int parameter
SampleMethod((short)5);  // Calling the method with the short parameter

Conversions

There is a predefined implicit conversion from short to int, long, float, double, or decimal.

You cannot implicitly convert nonliteral numeric types of larger storage size to short (see Integral Types Table (C# Reference) for the storage sizes of integral types). Consider, for example, the following two short variables x and y:

short x = 5, y = 12;

The following assignment statement will produce a compilation error, because the arithmetic expression on the right-hand side of the assignment operator evaluates to int by default.

short`` z = x + y; // Error: no conversion from int to short

To fix this problem, use a cast:

short`` z = (``short``)(x + y); // OK: explicit conversion

It is possible though to use the following statements, where the destination variable has the same storage size or a larger storage size:

int m = x + y;
long n = x + y;

There is no implicit conversion from floating-point types to short. For example, the following statement generates a compiler error unless an explicit cast is used:

short x = 3.0;          // Error: no implicit conversion from double
short y = (short)3.0;   // OK: explicit conversion

For information on arithmetic expressions with mixed floating-point types and integral types, see float and double.

For more information on implicit numeric conversion rules, see the Implicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference).

C# Language Specification

For more information, see the following sections in the C# Language Specification:

  • 1.3 Types and Variables

  • 4.1.5 Integral Types

See Also

Reference

C# Keywords
Integral Types Table (C# Reference)
Built-In Types Table (C# Reference)
Implicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference)
Explicit Numeric Conversions Table (C# Reference)
Int16

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Other Resources

C# Reference