Comparing enum values in C#/Unity?

Question

I was wondering if it is possible to compare the (int) of two seperate Enums (from different scripts)?

I am currently trying:

 if((int)newMiner.minerType == (int)resourceType)
        {
            Debug.Log("Resource Holder Accepts Miner");
        }

newMiner is the other script that has the enum I'm trying to compare and minerType is one Enum while resourceType is the local Enum I am trying to compare it with.

What I have now does not return an error, however, it always returns true. Any information on how this does/doesn't work would be very much appreciated :)

Answer 1

Let's say you have two enums

enum Car { Window, Door, Light, Gate, Bath }

enum House { Window, Door, Light, Bath, Gate }

Then you have instance of them with

Car car = Car.Window;
House house = House.Window;

Can you compare them directly with if (car == house)?

NO

Can you compare their values with if ((int)car == (int)house)?

Yes. It looks like this is what you are trying to do.

Example 1:

if ((int)car == (int)house)
    Debug.Log("Car Value matches House value");
else
    Debug.Log("Car Value DOES NOT match House value");

Output:

Car Value matches House value

That's because Window from Car Enum and Window from House Enum both share the-same Enum value index which is 0.

Example 2:

Car car = Car.Light;
House house = House.Light;

if ((int)car == (int)house)
    Debug.Log("Car Value matches House value");
else
    Debug.Log("Car Value DOES NOT match House value");

Output:

Car Value matches House value

Again, that's because Light from Car Enum and Light from House Enum both share the-same Enum value index which is 2.

Example 3:

Car car = Car.Gate;
House house = House.Gate;

if ((int)car == (int)house)
    Debug.Log("Car Value matches House value");
else
    Debug.Log("Car Value DOES NOT match House value");

Output:

Car Value DOES NOT match House value

Surprise! Surprise! Gate and Gate from Car and House Enum don't match. Why?

Because Gate from House Enum has a value of 4 and while Gate from Car Enum has a value of 3. 4 != 3.

When you cast Enum to int, you will get its index position of it. The position starts from 0 like an array. For example, the Enum declaration code below shows you what the index looks like.

enum Car { Window = 0, Door = 1, Light = 2, Gate = 3, Bath = 4 }

For the if statement to be true, they both have to be at the-same position. You will get false if they are in different position. Check your Enum again and fix that.