C# Keywords Tutorial Part 72: sbyte

Programming languages like C# offer a range of data types to make it easier for programmers to store and work with data in their code. The “sbyte” keyword, which stands for a signed 8-bit integer, is one example of such a data type. We will go into the definition, scope, and use of the “sbyte” keyword in this blog article, as well as offer some code samples to demonstrate its use.

A signed 8-bit integer is represented by the basic data type “sbyte” in the C# programming language. It can store values that are inclusive of -128 and 127. Since the “sbyte” keyword is signed, it may store both positive and negative numbers. When dealing with low-level programming tasks, such as reading and writing binary data, the term is frequently employed.

To declare a variable of type “sbyte”, you can use the following syntax:

sbyte myByte = -100;

In this example, we are declaring a variable called “myByte” of type “sbyte” and assigning it the value of -100.

Now, let’s take a look at some code examples to illustrate the use of the “sbyte” keyword:

Example 1: Converting a string to an “sbyte”

string myString = "-50";
sbyte myByte = Convert.ToSByte(myString);

In this example, we are declaring a variable called “myString” of type “string” and assigning it the value “-50”. We then use the “Convert.ToSByte” method to convert the string to an “sbyte” and assign it to the variable “myByte”.

Example 2: Writing an “sbyte” to a binary file

using (BinaryWriter writer = new BinaryWriter(File.Open("data.bin", FileMode.Create)))
{
    sbyte myByte = -100;
    writer.Write(myByte);
}

In this example, we are using the “BinaryWriter” class to write an “sbyte” to a binary file called “data.bin”. We first declare a variable called “myByte” of type “sbyte” and assign it the value of -100. We then use the “Write” method of the “BinaryWriter” class to write the value of “myByte” to the file.

Example 3: Reading an “sbyte” from a binary file

using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(File.Open("data.bin", FileMode.Open)))
{
    sbyte myByte = reader.ReadSByte();
    Console.WriteLine(myByte);
}

In this example, we are using the “BinaryReader” class to read an “sbyte” from a binary file called “data.bin”. We first declare a variable called “myByte” of type “sbyte”. We then use the “ReadSByte” method of the “BinaryReader” class to read an “sbyte” from the file and assign it to the variable “myByte”. Finally, we use the “Console.WriteLine” method to output the value of “myByte” to the console.