How to loop through all values of an enum in C#?

In C#, you can loop through all values of an enum using the Enum.GetValues() method. This method returns an array containing all the values defined in the enum, which you can then iterate over using a foreach loop.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for looping through enum values −

foreach (EnumType value in Enum.GetValues(typeof(EnumType))) {
    // Process each enum value
}

You can also use the generic version for type safety −

foreach (EnumType value in Enum.GetValues<EnumType>()) {
    // Process each enum value (C# 5.0+)
}

Using Enum.GetValues() with foreach Loop

First, define an enum and then use Enum.GetValues(typeof(EnumName)) inside a foreach loop to iterate through all its values −

Example

using System;

public class EnumExample {
    public enum Grade { A, B, C, D, E, F };
    
    public static void Main() {
        Console.WriteLine("All grades:");
        foreach (Grade g in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Grade))) {
            Console.WriteLine(g);
        }
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

All grades:
A
B
C
D
E
F

Using Enum.GetValues() with Numeric Enums

When working with enums that have explicit numeric values, Enum.GetValues() still returns all defined values −

Example

using System;

public class NumericEnumExample {
    public enum HttpStatusCode { 
        OK = 200, 
        NotFound = 404, 
        InternalServerError = 500 
    };
    
    public static void Main() {
        Console.WriteLine("HTTP Status Codes:");
        foreach (HttpStatusCode status in Enum.GetValues(typeof(HttpStatusCode))) {
            Console.WriteLine($"{status} = {(int)status}");
        }
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

HTTP Status Codes:
OK = 200
NotFound = 404
InternalServerError = 500

Alternative Approaches

Besides Enum.GetValues(), you can also use Enum.GetNames() to get string representations of enum values −

Example

using System;

public class EnumNamesExample {
    public enum Priority { Low, Medium, High, Critical };
    
    public static void Main() {
        Console.WriteLine("Using Enum.GetNames():");
        foreach (string name in Enum.GetNames(typeof(Priority))) {
            Console.WriteLine(name);
        }
        
        Console.WriteLine("\nUsing Enum.GetValues() with names:");
        foreach (Priority p in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Priority))) {
            Console.WriteLine($"Name: {p}, Value: {(int)p}");
        }
    }
}

The output of the above code is −

Using Enum.GetNames():
Low
Medium
High
Critical

Using Enum.GetValues() with names:
Name: Low, Value: 0
Name: Medium, Value: 1
Name: High, Value: 2
Name: Critical, Value: 3

Conclusion

The Enum.GetValues() method is the most efficient way to loop through all values of an enum in C#. It works with both simple and numeric enums, returning an array that can be easily iterated using a foreach loop to access each enum value.