Labels with C#

In C#, "labels" generally refer to identifiers used to mark a specific point in the code that can be the target of a jump or branch operation. Labels are typically used in conjunction with control flow statements such as goto, break, and continue.

Below are some examples where the labels in c# might be useful. However, before you go ahead and use them, please always make sure to run them by your team, as it is a matter of preference and some people may really not like it!

Labels in a switch statement:

public static void SwitchGoToExample(string name)
{
    switch (name)
    {
        case "c#":
            Console.WriteLine("Name is c#");
            goto case "csharp#";
        case "C#":
            Console.WriteLine("Name is C#");
            break;
        case "csharp#":
            Console.WriteLine("Name is csharp");
            break;
        default:
            Console.WriteLine("Not a match");
            break;
    }
}

HttpClient request retry:

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class RetryRequest
{
    private const int MaxRetryAttempts = 3;

    public static async Task Main()
    {
        HttpClient httpClient = new HttpClient();
        HttpResponseMessage response = null;
        int attempt = 0;
            
        retry: // this is our label targeting the retry section of the program
        try
        {
            response = await httpClient.GetAsync("http://example.com");
            if(!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                throw new HttpRequestException();
        }
        catch(Exception)
        {
            if (++attempt == MaxRetryAttempts)
                throw; // re-throw exception if max attempts reached
                
            await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(attempt)); // wait before retrying

            goto retry; // here we redirect code execution to the "retry" label
        }
        
        string result = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
        Console.WriteLine(result);
    }
}

Infinite loop (throw an exception and recover):

public static void InfiniteLoopWithLabels()
{
    var counter = 0;
    
    ThreadStart:
    try
    {
        if (counter == 2)
        {
            throw new Exception("Reset");
        }

        counter++;
        Console.WriteLine("Counter is: {0}", counter);
        goto ThreadStart;
    }
    catch (Exception e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Counter will reset");
        counter = 0;
        goto ThreadStart;
    }
}

No files yet, migration hasn't completed yet!