How do I check if a number is positive or negative in C#?

Question

How do I check if a number is positive or negative in C#?

Answer 1

if (num < 0) {
  //negative
}
if (num > 0) {
  //positive
}
if (num == 0) {
  //neither positive or negative,
}

or use "else ifs"

Answer 2

For a 32-bit signed integer, such as System.Int32, aka int in C#:

bool isNegative = (num & (1 << 31)) != 0;

Answer 3

Native programmer's version. Behaviour is correct for little-endian systems.

bool IsPositive(int number)
{
   bool result = false;
   IntPtr memory = IntPtr.Zero;
   try
   {
       memory = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(4);
       if (memory == IntPtr.Zero)
           throw new OutOfMemoryException();

       Marshal.WriteInt32(memory, number);

       result = (Marshal.ReadByte(memory, 3) & 0x80) == 0;
   }
   finally
   {
       if (memory != IntPtr.Zero)
           Marshal.FreeHGlobal(memory);
   }
   return result;
}

Do not ever use this.

Answer 4

This code takes advantage of SIMD instructions to improve performance.

public static bool IsPositive(int n)
{
  var v = new Vector<int>(n);
  var result = Vector.GreaterThanAll(v, Vector<int>.Zero);
  return result;
}

Answer 5

OVERKILL!

public static class AwesomeExtensions
{
    public static bool IsPositive(this int number)
    {
        return number > 0;
    }

    public static bool IsNegative(this int number)
    {
        return number < 0;
    }

    public static bool IsZero(this int number)
    {
        return number == 0;
    }

    public static bool IsAwesome(this int number)
    {
        return IsNegative(number) && IsPositive(number) && IsZero(number);
    }
}

Answer 6

int j = num * -1;

if (j - num  == j)
{
     // Num is equal to zero
}
else if (j < i)
{
      // Num is positive
}
else if (j > i) 
{
     // Num is negative
}