What is the difference between const and readonly in C#?

Question

What is the difference between const and readonly in C#?

When would you use one over the other?

Answer 1

Principally; you can assign a value to a static readonly field to a non-constant value at runtime, whereas a const has to be assigned a constant value.

Answer 2

Constant variables are declared and initialized at compile time. The value can’t be changed after wards. Read-only variables will be initialized only from the Static constructor of the class. Read only is used only when we want to assign the value at run time.

Answer 3

A const is a compile-time constant whereas readonly allows a value to be calculated at run-time and set in the constructor or field initializer. So, a 'const' is always constant but 'readonly' is read-only once it is assigned.

Eric Lippert of the C# team has more information on different types of immutability

Answer 4

There is a small gotcha with readonly. A readonly field can be set multiple times within the constructor(s). Even if the value is set in two different chained constructors it is still allowed.

public class Sample {
    private readonly string ro;

    public Sample() {
        ro = "set";
    }

    public Sample(string value) : this() {
        ro = value; // this works even though it was set in the no-arg ctor
    }
}

Answer 5

Variables marked const are little more than strongly typed #define macros, at compile time const variable references are replaced with inline literal values. As a consequence only certain built-in primitive value types can be used in this way. Variables marked readonly can be set, in a constructor, at run-time and their read-only-ness is enforced during run-time as well. There is some minor performance cost associated with this but it means you can use readonly with any type (even reference types).

Also, const variables are inherently static, whereas readonly variables can be instance specific if desired.

Answer 6

There is notable difference between const and readonly fields in C#.Net

const is by default static and needs to be initialized with constant value, which can not be modified later on. Change of value is not allowed in constructors, too. It can not be used with all datatypes. For ex- DateTime. It can not be used with DateTime datatype.

public const DateTime dt = DateTime.Today;  //throws compilation error
public const string Name = string.Empty;    //throws compilation error
public readonly string Name = string.Empty; //No error, legal

readonly can be declared as static, but not necessary. No need to initialize at the time of declaration. Its value can be assigned or changed using constructor. So, it gives advantage when used as instance class member. Two different instantiation may have different value of readonly field. For ex -

class A
{
    public readonly int Id;

    public A(int i)
    {
        Id = i;
    }
}

Then readonly field can be initialised with instant specific values, as follows:

A objOne = new A(5);
A objTwo = new A(10);

Here, instance objOne will have value of readonly field as 5 and objTwo has 10. Which is not possible using const.