using static Directive (C# Reference)

• 03/10/2017
• 3 minutes to read
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The using static directive designates a type whose static members you can access without specifying a type name. Its syntax is:

using static <fully-qualified-type-name>

where fully-qualified-type-name is the name of the type whose static members can be referenced without specifying a type name. If you do not provide a fully qualified type name (the full namespace name along with the type name), C# generates compiler error CS0246: "The type or namespace name '' could not be found."

The using static directive applies to any type that has static members, even if it also has instance members. However, instance members can only be invoked through the type instance.

The using static directive was introduced in C# 6.

Remarks

Ordinarily, when you call a static member, you provide the type name along with the member name. Repeatedly entering the same type name to invoke members of the type can result in verbose, obscure code. For example, the following definition of a Circle class references a number of members of the Math class.

using System;

public class Circle
{
   public Circle(double radius)
   {
      Radius = radius;
   }

   public double Radius { get; set; }

   public double Diameter
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius; }
   }

   public double Circumference
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius * Math.PI; }      
   }

   public double Area
   {
      get { return Math.PI * Math.Pow(Radius, 2); }
   }
}

By eliminating the need to explicitly reference the Math class each time a member is referenced, the using static directive produces much cleaner code:

using System;
using static System.Math;

public class Circle
{
   public Circle(double radius)
   {
      Radius = radius;
   }

   public double Radius { get; set; }

   public double Diameter
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius; }
   }

   public double Circumference
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius * PI; }      
   }

   public double Area
   {
      get { return PI * Pow(Radius, 2); }
   }
}

using static imports only accessible static members and nested types declared in the specified type. Inherited members are not imported. You can import from any named type with a using static directive, including Visual Basic modules. If F# top-level functions appear in metadata as static members of a named type whose name is a valid C# identifier, then the F# functions can be imported.

using static makes extension methods declared in the specified type available for extension method lookup. However, the names of the extension methods are not imported into scope for unqualified reference in code.

Methods with the same name imported from different types by different using static directives in the same compilation unit or namespace form a method group. Overload resolution within these method groups follows normal C# rules.

Example

The following example uses the using static directive to make the static members of the Console, Math, and String classes available without having to specify their type name.

using System;
using static System.Console;
using static System.Math;
using static System.String;

class Program
{
   static void Main()
   {
      Write("Enter a circle's radius: ");
      var input = ReadLine();
      if (!IsNullOrEmpty(input) && double.TryParse(input, out var radius)) {
         var c = new Circle(radius);
         
         string s = "\nInformation about the circle:\n";
         s = s + Format("   Radius: {0:N2}\n", c.Radius);
         s = s + Format("   Diameter: {0:N2}\n", c.Diameter);
         s = s + Format("   Circumference: {0:N2}\n", c.Circumference);
         s = s + Format("   Area: {0:N2}\n", c.Area);
         WriteLine(s);
      }
      else {
         WriteLine("Invalid input...");
      }
   }
}

public class Circle
{
   public Circle(double radius)
   {
      Radius = radius;
   }

   public double Radius { get; set; }

   public double Diameter
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius; }
   }

   public double Circumference
   {
      get { return 2 * Radius * PI; }      
   }

   public double Area
   {
      get { return PI * Pow(Radius, 2); }
   }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//       Enter a circle's radius: 12.45
//       
//       Information about the circle:
//          Radius: 12.45
//          Diameter: 24.90
//          Circumference: 78.23
//          Area: 486.95

In the example, the using static directive could also have been applied to the Double type. This would have made it possible to call the TryParse(String, Double) method without specifying a type name. However, this creates less readable code, since it becomes necessary to check the using static statements to determine which numeric type's TryParse method is called.

See also

using directive
C# Reference
C# Keywords
Using Namespaces
Namespace Keywords
Namespaces