!= Operator (C# Reference)
The inequality operator (!=) returns false if its operands are equal, true otherwise. Inequality operators are predefined for all types, including string and object. User-defined types can overload the != operator.
Remarks
For predefined value types, the inequality operator (!=) returns true if the values of its operands are different, false otherwise. For reference types other than string, != returns true if its two operands refer to different objects. For the string type, != compares the values of the strings.
User-defined value types can overload the != operator (see operator). So can user-defined reference types, although by default != behaves as described above for both predefined and user-defined reference types. If != is overloaded, == must also be overloaded. Operations on integral types are generally allowed on enumeration.
Example
class InequalityTest
{
static void Main()
{
// Numeric inequality:
Console.WriteLine((2 + 2) != 4);
// Reference equality: two objects, same boxed value
object s = 1;
object t = 1;
Console.WriteLine(s != t);
// String equality: same string value, same string objects
string a = "hello";
string b = "hello";
// compare string values
Console.WriteLine(a != b);
// compare string references
Console.WriteLine((object)a != (object)b);
}
}
/*
Output:
False
True
False
False
*/