Nameof Operator: A New Feature of C# 6.0

string person;  
Console.WriteLine(nameof(person));  // prints person  

int x = 2;  
Console.WriteLine(nameof(x));       // prints x  

public operator nameof(string name) // constructor
{
    if (name == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(name)); // use of nameof Operator
    else
        Console.WriteLine("Name: " + name);
}

Example 3

private int _price;  

public int Price  
{  
    get  
    {  
        return this._price;  
    }  
    set  
    {  
        this._price = value;  
        PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(nameof(this.Price)));  // INotifyPropertyChanged  
    }  
}  

Demo Application 1 using Visual Studio 2013.

using System;  
using System.Text;  
  
namespace CSharpFeatures  
{  
    public class OperatorNameof  
    {  
        public OperatorNameof(string name, string location, string age)  
        {  
            if (name == null)  
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(name));  
            else  
                Console.WriteLine("\n Name: " + name);  
            if (location == null)  
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(location));  
            else  
                Console.WriteLine(" Location: " + location);  
            if (age == null)  
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(age));  
            else  
                Console.WriteLine(" Age: " + age);  
        }  
        static void Main(String[] args)  
        {  
            OperatorNameof p = new OperatorNameof("Abhishek", "Ghaziabad", "23");  
            Console.ReadKey();  
        }  
    }  
}  

Demo Application 1 using Visual Studio 2015 Preview.

using System;
using System.Text;

namespace CSharpFeatures
{
    public class OperatorNameof
    {
        public OperatorNameof(string name, string location, string age)
        {
            if (name == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(name));
            else
                Console.WriteLine("Name: " + name);
            
            if (location == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(location));
            else
                Console.WriteLine("Location: " + location);
            
            if (age == null)
                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(age));
            else
                Console.WriteLine("Age: " + age);
        }

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            OperatorNameof p = new OperatorNameof("Abhishek", "Ghaziabad", "23");
            Console.Read();
        }
    }
}

Demo Application 2 using Visual Studio 2013.

using System;

namespace CSharpFeatures
{
    class Operatornameof1
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Details d = new Details();
            d.Age = 23;
            d.Name = "Abhishek";
            Console.WriteLine("\nName: {0} ", d.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("Age: {0} ", d.Age);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }

    class Details
    {
        private string _Name;
        public int _Age;

        public string Name
        {
            get { return this._Name; }
            set { this._Name = value; }
        }

        public int Age
        {
            get { return this._Age; }
            set { this._Age = value; }
        }
    }
}

Demo Application 2 using Visual Studio 2015 Preview.

using System;

namespace CSharpFeatures
{
    class Operatornameof2
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Details d = new Details();
            Console.WriteLine("{0} : {1}", nameof(Details.Name), d.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("{0} : {1}", nameof(Details.Age), d.Age);
            Console.ReadKey();
        }
    }

    class Details
    {
        public string Name { get; set; } = "Abhishek";
        public int Age { get; set; } = 23;
    }
}

Summary

In this article, we learned how to use the name of operator to avoid the use of hard-coded strings in our code. I hope you liked this new feature of C# 6.0 introduced by Microsoft. Don't forget to read my other articles on the series "A new feature of C# 6.0". Share your opinion about this feature and how will you use it in your project. Your comments are most welcome.