Shortest way to check for null and assign another value if not

Question

I am pulling varchar values out of a DB and want to set the string I am assigning them to as \"\" if they are null. I\'m currently doi

Answer 1

My guess is the best you can come up with is

this.approved_by = IsNullOrEmpty(planRec.approved_by) ? string.Empty
                                                      : planRec.approved_by.ToString();

Of course since you're hinting at the fact that approved_by is an object (which cannot equal ""), this would be rewritten as

this.approved_by = (planRec.approved_by ?? string.Empty).ToString();

Answer 2

I use extention method SelfChk

static class MyExt {
//Self Check 
 public static void SC(this string you,ref string me)
    {
        me = me ?? you;
    }
}

Then use like

string a = null;
"A".SC(ref a);

Answer 3

To extend @Dave's answer...if planRec.approved_by is already a string

this.approved_by = planRec.approved_by ?? "";

Answer 4

To assign a non-empty variable without repeating the actual variable name (and without assigning anything if variable is null!), you can use a little helper method with a Action parameter:

public static void CallIfNonEmpty(string value, Action<string> action)
{
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
        action(value);
}

And then just use it:

CallIfNonEmpty(this.approved_by, (s) => planRec.approved_by = s);

Answer 5

Starting with C# 8.0, you can use the ??= operator to replace the code of the form

if (variable is null)
{
    variable = expression;
}

with the following code:

variable ??= expression;

More information is here

Answer 6

You are looking for the C# coalesce operator: ??. This operator takes a left and right argument. If the left hand side of the operator is null or a nullable with no value it will return the right argument. Otherwise it will return the left.

var x = somePossiblyNullValue ?? valueIfNull;