How to get C# Enum description from value? [duplicate]

int value = 1;
string description = Enumerations.GetEnumDescription((MyEnum)value);

The default underlying data type for an enum in C# is an int, you can just cast it.

Update

The Unconstrained Melody library is no longer maintained; Support was dropped in favour of Enums.NET.

In Enums.NET you'd use:

string description = ((MyEnum)value).AsString(EnumFormat.Description);

Original post

I implemented this in a generic, type-safe way in Unconstrained Melody - you'd use:

string description = Enums.GetDescription((MyEnum)value);

This:

• Ensures (with generic type constraints) that the value really is an enum value
• Avoids the boxing in your current solution
• Caches all the descriptions to avoid using reflection on every call
• Has a bunch of other methods, including the ability to parse the value from the description

I realise the core answer was just the cast from an int to MyEnum, but if you're doing a lot of enum work it's worth thinking about using Unconstrained Melody :)