How to enumerate an enum

Question

How can you enumerate an enum in C#?

E.g. the following code does not compile:

public enum Suit
{         


        

Answer 1

If you need speed and type checking at build and run time, this helper method is better than using LINQ to cast each element:

public static T[] GetEnumValues() where T : struct, IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible
{
    if (typeof(T).BaseType != typeof(Enum))
    {
        throw new ArgumentException(string.Format("{0} is not of type System.Enum", typeof(T)));
    }
    return Enum.GetValues(typeof(T)) as T[];
}

And you can use it like below:

static readonly YourEnum[] _values = GetEnumValues();

Of course you can return IEnumerable, but that buys you nothing here.