ReSharper 2020.2 Help

Code Syntax Style: Implicit/Explicit Typing ('var' Keyword)

Using implicitly typed local variables (also known as var keyword) introduced in C# 3.0 has become quite popular as it improves readability in many scenarios. By default, ReSharper also encourages using of var keyword, but preferences of its usage are flexibly configurable— for example, you can opt for using explicit types in specific cases or everywhere and ReSharper will help you enforce your preferences.

Starting from C# 7.0, you can declare local variables when deconstructing tuples. If you prefer var in such declarations, you can additionally configure a style to use joined or separated notation, that is, for example: var (x, y) = GetTuple(); or (var x, var y) = GetTuple();.

Another C# 7.0 feature is discards, which also allows using var to make sure that there are no conflicts with variables in the scope that may be named _. ReSharper allows you to configure a style to always use var with discards where appropriate.

Enforce preferences of using 'var' keyword

ReSharper checks all local variables for compliance with your preferences and if they do not comply, ReSharper highlights such declarations and suggests the corresponding quick-fix or fix in scope.

By default, ReSharper's preferences say that 'var' keyword is preferred:

'Var' usage quick-fix
If you change your preference, ReSharper will help you to use explicit types:
'Var' usage quick-fix

Another option to enforce preferences of 'var' keyword usage in a bulk mode is code cleanup. You can either run code cleanup with one of the default profiles Full Cleanup or Reformat & Apply Syntax Style, or create and run a custom profile solely targeted at your specific task as described below.

Apply preferences of using 'var' keyword with custom Code Cleanup profile

  1. Select ReSharper | Options from the main menu or press Alt+R O.

  2. Go to the cleanup profiles settings page: Code Editing | Code Cleanup | Profiles.

  3. Create a new profile as described in the Create a new custom cleanup profile section. In the Selected profile settings section for the new profile, tick the Enforce 'var' keyword usage settings checkbox. Optionally, you can enable other code cleanup tasks in this profile.

  4. Click Save in the Options dialog to apply the modifications and let ReSharper choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To list. For more information, see Manage and Share ReSharper Settings.

  5. Select the scope where you want to enforce your preferences:

    • Set the caret anywhere in the file to enforce your preferences to the file.

    • Select one or more items in the Solution Explorer to enforce your preferences in the files under these nodes and their child items.

  6. Do one of the following:

    • Press Control+Alt+F or choose ReSharper | Edit | Cleanup Code... from the main menu .

    • Right-click anywhere in the text editor or right-click the selection and choose Cleanup Code in the context menu.

  7. In the Code Cleanup dialog that opens, select the newly created profile.

  8. Click Run. ReSharper will enforce your preferences in the selected scope.

If you want to enforce 'var' keyword usage setting without opening the Code Cleanup dialog, you can bind the created profile to the silent cleanup and run it by pressing Control+Shift+Alt+F. You can also create a custom cleanup profile that would combine applying the preferences with other code style tasks.

Configure preferences of using 'var' keyword

Your 'var' keyword usage preferences are saved using the mechanism of layer-based settings. Among other things, this mechanism allows you to maintain different preferences for different solutions as well as to keep these preferences under a VCS and automatically share them with your team members.

Configure preferences of using 'var' keyword in the Options dialog

  1. Go to the Code Editing | C# | Syntax Style page of ReSharper options (Alt+R O).

  2. Modify settings in the 'var' usage in declarations category according to your coding practices/standards.

    You can set different preferences of using 'var' or explicit type for different types:

    • For built-in types— applies to C# built-in types.

    • For simple types— applies to types without generic parameters.

    • Elsewhere— applies to generic types and deconstruction declarations.

    For each of these preferences you can opt for using 'var', explicit type, or 'var' when evident.

  3. If you have chosen Use 'var' when evident in the previous step, you can opt to apply Visual Studio logic to decide which cases should be considered evident.

    To learn the differences between ReSharper and Visual Studio logic, see Use 'var' when evident: what is considered evident?.

  4. By default, ReSharper will suggest joined notation for multiple var's in deconstruction declarations, for example var (x, y) = GetTuple();. You can select Prefer separate declarations for deconstructed variables to opt for separate notation, for example (var x, var y) = GetTuple();.

  5. By default, ReSharper suggests using standalone _ for discards, for example (_, _) = (0, 1);. You can select Use 'var' keyword for discards to always use var with discards where appropriate thus making sure that there are no conflicts with variables in the scope that may be named _.

  6. The Notify with selectors in the right column allow you to set severity levels of code inspections detecting code that differs from your preferences.

  7. Click Save in the Options dialog to apply the modifications and let ReSharper choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To list. For more information, see Manage and Share ReSharper Settings.

You can also change your preference of using 'var' keyword right in the editor, where a corresponding issue is highlighted:

Change preferences of using 'var' keyword from the editor

  1. Set the caret to a code issue highlighted by a ReSharper's inspection.

  2. Press Alt+Enter or click the action indicator to the left of the caret to open the action list.

  3. In the action list, go to Inspection "Use preferred 'var' style" | Configure code style and then select a desired preference:

    Changing code style preference for 'var' keyword

  4. Your change will be saved using the smart save logic.

  5. If you need to save the modified style preference in a shared settings layer, click the Configure code style menu item or press Enter when it is selected. ReSharper will open the Code Editing | C# | Syntax Style page of ReSharper options (Alt+R O) where you can modify your preference as needed, click Save To and then choose the desired settings layer.

Use 'var' when evident: what is considered evident?

When configuring preferences of using 'var' keyword vs. explicit type, you can opt for Use 'var' when evident. This option seems self-explanatory but in some cases it might be unclear what is considered 'evident' and what is not.

Apart from that, there are some differences between what is considered evident (apparent) by ReSharper and by Visual Studio when both products suggest using 'var' keyword or explicit type.

The table below shows in which cases initializers that could be declared 'var' are considered evident depending on the state of the Prefer Roslyn (Visual Studio) logic for type evidence checkbox on the Code Editing | C# | Syntax Style page of ReSharper options (Alt+R O).

Initializer expressionExamplesOffOn
Object creation expressionsnew MyClass()EvidentEvident
Cast expressions(MyClass) objEvidentEvident
as expressions obj as MyClassEvidentEvident
Literal expressions"some string literal"
123
true
EvidentEvident
Default expressionsdefault(MyClass)EvidentEvident
Tuple expressions(1, 2, 3)Evident when all component expressions are evident
Explicit array creation expressionsnew int[] { 1, 2, 3 }
new MyClass[5]
EvidentEvident
Implicit array creation expressionsnew [] { 1, 2, 3}
new [,] { {1, 2, 3}, {1, 2, 3}, {1, 2, 3} }
Evident when all element initializers (up to 42) are evident Not evident
Non-generic factory (creation) methods (static methods declared in some type and returning a value of the same type) MyClass.Build(someArgs) // returns MyClass Evident when the method name contains a parent type name or one of the following substrings: "Create", "Build", "Construct", "Make", "Generate", "Produce", "New", "Instance" Evident
Generic factory (creation) methods (static methods returning a generic type and declared in a class with the same name as the return type) Tuple.Create(1, 2, 3) Evident when all method call arguments are evident and the method name contains one of the following substrings or a class name: "Create", "Build", "Construct", "Make", "Generate", "Produce", "New", "Instance" Evident
Conversion methods (methods with a name consisting of "To" plus the name of the return type) obj.ToString() enumeration.ToList()Evident when the return type is not genericEvident
Generic methods with an explicit type argument returning the value of that type argumentobj.GetValue<MyClass>() // returns MyClassEvidentNot evident
Enum membersKnownColor.AzureEvidentNot evident
Singleton fields (static/constant fields returning the value of the type where they are declared) int.MaxValue string.Empty Evident when the field name contains the type name or one of the following substrings: "Empty", "Instance", "Default", "Value" Not evident

Applicability in different languages

This feature is supported in the following languages and technologies:

Language: C#Language: VB.NETLanguage: C++Language: HTMLLanguage: ASP.NETLanguage: RazorLanguage: JavaScriptLanguage: TypeScriptLanguage: CSSLanguage: XMLLanguage: XAMLLanguage: ResxLanguage: Build ScriptsLanguage: ProtobufLanguage: JSON
Feature is available in C#Feature is not available in Visual Basic .NETFeature is not available in C++Feature is not available in HTMLFeature is not available in ASP.NETFeature is not available in RazorFeature is not available in JavaScriptFeature is available in TypeScriptFeature is not available in CSSFeature is not available in XMLFeature is not available in XAMLFeature is not available in Resource filesFeature is not available in build script filesFeature is not available in ProtobufFeature is not available in JSON

The instructions and examples given here address the use of the feature in C#. For details specific to other languages, see corresponding topics in the ReSharper by Language section.

Last modified: 08 December 2020