Int32. Equals Method in C# with Examples

The Int32.Equals() method in C# is used to compare the current integer instance with another value to determine if they are equal. It returns a boolean value indicating whether the comparison values are equal or not.

Syntax

The Int32.Equals() method has two overloaded forms −

public bool Equals(int other);
public override bool Equals(object obj);

Parameters

• other − An Int32 value to compare with the current instance.

• obj − An object to compare with the current instance.

Return Value

Both overloads return a bool value −

• true if the values are equal

• false if the values are not equal

Using Equals() with Int32 Values

Example

using System;
public class Demo {
   public static void Main(){
      int val1 = 299;
      int val2 = 450;
      Console.WriteLine("Value1 = " + val1);
      Console.WriteLine("Value2 = " + val2);
      Console.WriteLine("Are they equal? = " + val1.Equals(val2));
      
      int val3 = 299;
      Console.WriteLine("Value3 = " + val3);
      Console.WriteLine("val1.Equals(val3)? = " + val1.Equals(val3));
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Value1 = 299
Value2 = 450
Are they equal? = False
Value3 = 299
val1.Equals(val3)? = True

Using Equals() with Object Parameter

Example

using System;
public class Demo {
   public static void Main(){
      int val1 = 100;
      object obj1 = 100;
      object obj2 = "100";
      object obj3 = null;
      
      Console.WriteLine("val1 = " + val1);
      Console.WriteLine("obj1 = " + obj1);
      Console.WriteLine("obj2 = " + obj2);
      Console.WriteLine("obj3 = " + obj3);
      
      Console.WriteLine("val1.Equals(obj1): " + val1.Equals(obj1));
      Console.WriteLine("val1.Equals(obj2): " + val1.Equals(obj2));
      Console.WriteLine("val1.Equals(obj3): " + val1.Equals(obj3));
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

val1 = 100
obj1 = 100
obj2 = 100
obj3 = 
val1.Equals(obj1): True
val1.Equals(obj2): False
val1.Equals(obj3): False

Using Equals() with Special Values

Example

using System;
public class Demo {
   public static void Main(){
      int val1 = Int32.MinValue;
      int val2 = Int32.MaxValue;
      int val3 = 0;
      int val4 = -2147483648;
      
      Console.WriteLine("MinValue = " + val1);
      Console.WriteLine("MaxValue = " + val2);
      Console.WriteLine("Zero = " + val3);
      Console.WriteLine("Manual MinValue = " + val4);
      
      Console.WriteLine("MinValue.Equals(Zero): " + val1.Equals(val3));
      Console.WriteLine("MinValue.Equals(Manual): " + val1.Equals(val4));
      Console.WriteLine("MaxValue.Equals(Zero): " + val2.Equals(val3));
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

MinValue = -2147483648
MaxValue = 2147483647
Zero = 0
Manual MinValue = -2147483648
MinValue.Equals(Zero): False
MinValue.Equals(Manual): True
MaxValue.Equals(Zero): False

Key Points

• The method performs value comparison, not reference comparison.

• When comparing with an object, the method returns false if the object is not an Int32 type.

• Comparing with null always returns false.

• The method is more efficient than using the == operator when working with boxed integers.

Conclusion

The Int32.Equals() method provides a reliable way to compare integer values for equality. It handles both direct integer comparisons and object comparisons, making it useful in scenarios where you need to verify if two integer values are exactly the same.