How to force a number to be in a range in C#? [duplicate]

Answer 1

A much cleaner method that will work with more than just integers (taken from my own library of shared code):

public static T Clamp<T>(T value, T min, T max) where T : IComparable<T>
{
    if (value.CompareTo(min) < 0)
        return min;
    if (value.CompareTo(max) > 0)
        return max;

    return value;
}

Answer 2

This operation is called 'Clamp' and it's usually written like this:

public static int Clamp( int value, int min, int max )
{
    return (value < min) ? min : (value > max) ? max : value;
}

Answer 3

I see Mark's answer and raise it by a this:

public static class InputExtensions
{
    public static int LimitToRange(
        this int value, int inclusiveMinimum, int inclusiveMaximum)
    {
        if (value < inclusiveMinimum) { return inclusiveMinimum; }
        if (value > inclusiveMaximum) { return inclusiveMaximum; }
        return value;
    }
}

Usage:

int userInput = ...;

int result = userInput.LimitToRange(1, 5)

See: Extension Methods

Answer 4

I like Guffa's answer, but I am surprised that no one has yet posted a solution using Min/Max.

public int LimitInclusive(int value, int min, int max)
{
    return Math.Min(max, Math.Max(value, min));
}

Answer 5

No, there isn't any method for that built in the framework. I suppose that it was left out because you already have Min and Max, so you can accomplish it using them.

If you write your own method for it, it doesn't matter much how you write it. If you use if statements or the conditional operator ?, it will still compile to pretty much the same code anyway.

Answer 6

I like the Clamp name. I would suggest the following class

public class MathHelper
{
    public static int Clamp (int value,int min,int max)
    {
          // todo - implementation 
    }
    public static float Clamp (float value,float min,float max)
    {
          // todo - implementation 
    }
)

or if you want to use generics, then

public class MathHelper
{
     public static T Clamp<T> (T value, T min, T max) where T : IComparable
     {
         // todo - implementation
         T output = value;
         if (value.CompareTo(max) > 0)
         {
             return max;
         }
         if (value.CompareTo(min) < 0)
         {
            return min;
         }
        return  output;
     } 
}