!= Operator (C# Reference)

The inequality operator (!=) returns false if its operands are equal, true otherwise. Inequality operators are predefined for all types, including string and object. User-defined types can overload the != operator.

Remarks

For predefined value types, the inequality operator (!=) returns true if the values of its operands are different, false otherwise. For reference types other than string, != returns true if its two operands refer to different objects. For the string type, != compares the values of the strings.

User-defined value types can overload the != operator (see operator). So can user-defined reference types, although by default != behaves as described above for both predefined and user-defined reference types. If != is overloaded, == must also be overloaded. Operations on integral types are generally allowed on enumeration.

Example

class InequalityTest
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Numeric inequality:
        Console.WriteLine((2 + 2) != 4);

        // Reference equality: two objects, same boxed value 
        object s = 1;
        object t = 1;
        Console.WriteLine(s != t);

        // String equality: same string value, same string objects 
        string a = "hello";
        string b = "hello";

        // compare string values
        Console.WriteLine(a != b);

        // compare string references
        Console.WriteLine((object)a != (object)b);
    }
}
/*
Output:
False
True
False
False
*/

See Also

Reference

C# Operators

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Other Resources

C# Reference