Question

I’m just wondering why I get this output :

enum MyEnum
{
    a=1,
    b=2,
    c=3,
    d=3,
    f=d
}
Console.WriteLine(MyEnum.f.ToString());

OUTPUT
c

But in Mono
OUTPUT

f

So why is the output c? not d? How does the compiler choose c? If I change the code like this:

enum MyEnum
{
    a=1,
    b=2,
    c=3,
    d=3, 
    k=3
}
Console.WriteLine(MyEnum.k.ToString());

OUTPUT

c

again!

Another example:

enum MyEnum
{
    a=3,
    b=3,
    c=3,      
    d=3,
    f=d,   
}
MessageBox.Show(MyEnum.f.ToString());

OUTPUT


c

Answer 1

From MSDN:

If multiple enumeration members have the same underlying value and you
attempt to retrieve the string representation of an enumeration
member’s name based on its underlying value, your code should not make
any assumptions about which name the method will return.

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a0h36syw.aspx#Y300