short (C# Reference)

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

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 C# Language Specification. The language specification is the definitive source for C# syntax and usage.

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