What are the default access modifiers in C#?

What is the default access modifier for classes, methods, members, constructors, delegates and interfaces?

Solution 1:

The default access for everything in C# is "the most restricted access you could declare for that member".

So for example:

namespace MyCompany
{
    class Outer
    {
        void Foo() {}
        class Inner {}
    }
}

is equivalent to

namespace MyCompany
{
    internal class Outer
    {
        private void Foo() {}
        private class Inner {}
    }
}

The one sort of exception to this is making one part of a property (usually the setter) more restricted than the declared accessibility of the property itself:

public string Name
{
    get { ... }
    private set { ... } // This isn't the default, have to do it explicitly
}

This is what the C# 3.0 specification has to say (section 3.5.1):

Depending on the context in which a member declaration takes place, only certain types of declared accessibility are permitted. Furthermore, when a member declaration does not include any access modifiers, the context in which the declaration takes place determines the default declared accessibility.

• Namespaces implicitly have public declared accessibility. No access modifiers are allowed on namespace declarations.
• Types declared in compilation units or namespaces can have public or internal declared accessibility and default to internal declared accessibility.
• Class members can have any of the five kinds of declared accessibility and default to private declared accessibility. (Note that a type declared as a member of a class can have any of the five kinds of declared accessibility, whereas a type declared as a member of a namespace can have only public or internal declared accessibility.)
• Struct members can have public, internal, or private declared accessibility and default to private declared accessibility because structs are implicitly sealed. Struct members introduced in a struct (that is, not inherited by that struct) cannot have protected or protected internal declared accessibility. (Note that a type declared as a member of a struct can have public, internal, or private declared accessibility, whereas a type declared as a member of a namespace can have only public or internal declared accessibility.)
• Interface members implicitly have public declared accessibility. No access modifiers are allowed on interface member declarations.
• Enumeration members implicitly have public declared accessibility. No access modifiers are allowed on enumeration member declarations.

(Note that nested types would come under the "class members" or "struct members" parts - and therefore default to private visibility.)

Solution 2:

top level class: internal
method: private
members (unless an interface or enum): private (including nested classes)
members (of interface or enum): public
constructor: private (note that if no constructor is explicitly defined, a public default constructor will be automatically defined)
delegate: internal
interface: internal
explicitly implemented interface member: public!

Solution 3:

Short answer: minimum possible access (cf Jon Skeet's answer).

Long answer:

Non-nested types, enumeration and delegate accessibilities (may only have internal or public accessibility)

                     | Default   | Permitted declared accessibilities
------------------------------------------------------------------
namespace            | public    | none (always implicitly public)

enum                 | public    | public, internal

interface            | internal  | public, internal

class                | internal  | public, internal

struct               | internal  | public, internal

delegate             | internal  | public, internal

Nested type and member accessiblities

                     | Default   | Permitted declared accessibilities
------------------------------------------------------------------
namespace            | public    | none (always implicitly public)

enum                 | public    | All¹

interface            | public    | All¹

class                | private   | All¹

struct               | private   | public, internal, private²

delegate             | private   | All¹

constructor          | private   | All¹

enum member          | public    | none (always implicitly public)

interface member     | public    | none (always implicitly public)
     
method               | private   | All¹

field                | private   | All¹

user-defined operator| none      | public (must be declared public)

¹ All === public, protected, internal, private, protected internal

² structs cannot inherit from structs or classes (although they can, interfaces), hence protected is not a valid modifier

The accessibility of a nested type depends on its accessibility domain, which is determined by both the declared accessibility of the member and the accessibility domain of the immediately containing type. However, the accessibility domain of a nested type cannot exceed that of the containing type.

Note: CIL also has the provision for protected and internal (as opposed to the existing protected "or" internal), but to my knowledge this is not currently available for use in C#.

See:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ba0a1yw2.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173121.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cx03xt0t.aspx
(Man I love Microsoft URLs...)