abstract struct Enum
- Enum
- Value
- Object
Overview
Enum is the base type of all enums.
An enum is a set of integer values, where each value has an associated name. For example:
enum Color
Red # 0
Green # 1
Blue # 2
end
Values start with the value 0
and are incremented by one, but can be overwritten.
To get the underlying value you invoke value on it:
Color::Green.value # => 1
Each constant (member) in the enum has the type of the enum:
typeof(Color::Red) # => Color
Flags enum
An enum can be marked with the @[Flags]
annotation. This changes the default values:
@[Flags]
enum IOMode
Read # 1
Write # 2
Async # 4
end
Additionally, some methods change their behaviour.
Enums from integers
An enum can be created from an integer:
Color.new(1).to_s # => "Green"
Values that don't correspond to enum's constants are allowed: the value will still be of type Color, but when printed you will get the underlying value:
Color.new(10).to_s # => "10"
This method is mainly intended to convert integers from C to enums in Crystal.
Question methods
An enum automatically defines question methods for each member, using
String#underscore
for the method name.
- In the case of regular enums, this compares by equality (
==
). - In the case of flags enums, this invokes
includes?
.
For example:
color = Color::Blue
color.red? # => false
color.blue? # => true
mode = IOMode::Read | IOMode::Async
mode.read? # => true
mode.write? # => false
mode.async? # => true
This is very convenient in case
expressions:
case color
when .red?
puts "Got red"
when .blue?
puts "Got blue"
end
Changing the Base Type
The type of the underlying enum value is Int32
by default, but it can be changed to any type in Int::Primitive
.
enum Color : UInt8
Red
Green
Blue
end
Color::Red.value # : UInt8
Included Modules
- Comparable(Enum)
Defined in:
lib/msgpack/src/message_pack/to_msgpack.crprimitives.cr