What is "string[] args" in Main class for?

In C# the Main class has string[] args parameter.

What is that for and where does it get used?

Solution 1:

From the C# programming guide on MSDN:

The parameter of the Main method is a String array that represents the command-line arguments

So, if I had a program (MyApp.exe) like this:

class Program
{
  static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    foreach (var arg in args)
    {
      Console.WriteLine(arg);
    }
  }
}

That I started at the command line like this:

MyApp.exe Arg1 Arg2 Arg3

The Main method would be passed an array that contained three strings: "Arg1", "Arg2", "Arg3".

If you need to pass an argument that contains a space then wrap it in quotes. For example:

MyApp.exe "Arg 1" "Arg 2" "Arg 3"

Command line arguments commonly get used when you need to pass information to your application at runtime. For example if you were writing a program that copies a file from one location to another you would probably pass the two locations as command line arguments. For example:

Copy.exe C:\file1.txt C:\file2.txt

Solution 2:

Further to everyone else's answer, you should note that the parameters are optional in C# if your application does not use command line arguments.

This code is perfectly valid:

internal static Program
{
    private static void Main()
    {
        // Get on with it, without any arguments...
    }
}

Solution 3:

For passing in command line parameters. For example args[0] will give you the first command line parameter, if there is one.

Solution 4:

Besides the other answers. You should notice these args can give you the file path that was dragged and dropped on the .exe file. i.e if you drag and drop any file on your .exe file then the application will be launched and the arg[0] will contain the file path that was dropped onto it.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine(args[0]);
}

this will print the path of the file dropped on the .exe file. e.g

C:\Users\ABCXYZ\source\repos\ConsoleTest\ConsoleTest\bin\Debug\ConsoleTest.pdb

Hence, looping through the args array will give you the path of all the files that were selected and dragged and dropped onto the .exe file of your console app. See:

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    foreach (var arg in args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(arg);
    }
    Console.ReadLine();
}

The code sample above will print all the file names that were dragged and dropped onto it, See I am dragging 5 files onto my ConsoleTest.exe app.

And here is the output that I get after that:

Solution 5:

The args parameter stores all command line arguments which are given by the user when you run the program.

If you run your program from the console like this:

program.exe there are 4 parameters

Your args parameter will contain the four strings: "there", "are", "4", and "parameters"

Here is an example of how to access the command line arguments from the args parameter: example