What is the difference between Func delegate and Action delegate in C#?

A delegate is a type that represents references to methods with a particular parameter list and return type. When we instantiate a delegate, we can associate its instance with any method with a compatible signature and return type. We can invoke (or call) the method through the delegate instance.

Func Delegate

Func is a generic delegate included in the System namespace. It has zero or more input parameters and one out parameter. The last parameter is considered as an out parameter. This delegate can point to a method that takes up to 16 Parameters and returns a value.

Below is the Func delegate with two input and an output parameter.

Func<string, string, string > Append;

Example

 Live Demo

using System;
namespace DemoApplication {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Func<string, string, string> func = Append;
         string fullName = func("Michael", "Jackson");
         Console.WriteLine(fullName);
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
      static string Append(string firstName, string lastName) {
         return firstName + lastName;
      }
   }
}

Output 

MichaelJackson

Action Delegate

Action is a delegate type defined in the System namespace. An Action type delegate is the same as Func delegate except that the Action delegate doesn't return a value. In other words, an Action delegate can be used with a method that has a void return type. It can contain minimum 1 and maximum of 16 input parameters and does not contain any output parameter.

Below is the Func delegate with two input and an output parameter.

Func<string, string,> Print;

Example

using System;
namespace DemoApplication {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Action func = AppendPrint;
         func("Michael", "Jackson");
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
      static void AppendPrint(string firstName, string lastName) {
         string fullName = firstName + lastName;
         Console.WriteLine($"{fullName}");
      }
   }
}

Output

The output of the above code is

MichaelJackson