Why use the global keyword in C#?

Paul Fryer picture Paul Fryer · Aug 24, 2010 · Viewed 14.4k times · Source

I would like to understand why you might want to use the global:: prefix. In the following code, ReSharper is identifying it as redundant, and able to be removed:

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Answer

JaredPar picture JaredPar · Aug 24, 2010

The keyword global:: causes the compiler to bind names starting in the global namespace as opposed to in the current context. It's needed in places where a bindable member exists in a given context that has the same name as a global one and the global one is desired.

For example

class Test {
  class System {}
  public void Example() {
    System.Console.WriteLine("here"); // Error since System binds to Test.System
    global::System.Console.WriteLine("here"); // Works
}

The corresponding MSDN page has a few more examples (including the one above)