#341 – Defining and Using Local Variables

You can define variables within a method.  These are known as local variables.  The variables’ values can be read and written while the body of the method is executing.

The Dog.Bark method below defines two local variables–formalName and barkPhrase.

    public class Dog
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string BarkSound { get; set; }

        public void Bark()
        {
            string formalName = string.Format("Sir {0}", Name);
            string barkPhrase = string.Format("{0} {0}!", BarkSound);

            Console.WriteLine("{0} says {1}", formalName, barkPhrase);
        }
    }

Local variables can be initialized when they are declared, or they can be set to a value later.  Since C# requires definite assignment, they must be given a value before they are read.