Access Modifiers in C# Programming

What is an Access Modifier?

In Object oriented Programming, all types and type members have an accessibility levels. The accessibility level controls whether they can be used from other code in your assembly or other assemblies. To define these accessibility level we will use access modifiers.

Default access modifier for Class is "Internal". Default access modifier for Data Member and Member Function of Class is "Private".
List of Access Modifiers

Access Modifier	Accessibility Level
public	can be accessed by any other code in the same assembly or another assembly that references it.
private	can be accessed only by code in the same class or struct.
protected	can be accessed only by code in the same class, or in a class that is derived from that class.
internal	can be accessed by any code in the same assembly, but not from another assembly.
protected internal	can be accessed by any code in the assembly in which it's declared, or from within a derived class in another assembly.
private protected	can be accessed by types derived from the class that are declared within its containing assembly.

Sample C# Code

C# Code

// public class:
public class Employee
{
// protected method:
protected void Age() { }

// private field:
private int employeeId = 100;

// protected internal property:
protected internal int EmployeeId
{
get { return employeeId; }
}
}

Access Modifiers and its scope

	public	protected internal	protected	internal	private protected	private
Within the class	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Derived class (same assembly)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Non-derived class (same assembly)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Derived class (different assembly)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Non-derived class (different assembly)	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

PreviousNext