C++ Enums

An enum (short for enumeration) is a user-defined data type in C++ that allows you to define a set of named integer constants. Enums improve code readability by giving more meaningful names to numeric values, making the code easier to understand and maintain.

An enumeration is a type that can hold a set of integer values specified by the user. Some of an enumeration’s possible values are named and called enumerators.For example: enum class Color { red, green, blue };

Notes:

Enums are used to represent a collection of related constants.

The constants in an enum are implicitly assigned integer values starting from 0, unless you specify otherwise.

Syntax:

enum EnumName {
    EnumValue1,
    EnumValue2,
    EnumValue3,
    // ... more values
};

Example: an enum to represent the days of the week.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Define an enum for days of the week
enum Day {
    Sunday,    // 0
    Monday,    // 1
    Tuesday,   // 2
    Wednesday, // 3
    Thursday,  // 4
    Friday,    // 5
    Saturday   // 6
};

int main() {
    // Declare a variable of enum type
    Day today = Tuesday;  // Assign the value "Tuesday" to today
    
    // Using a switch statement with enum values
    switch (today) {
        case Sunday:
            cout << "Today is Sunday!" << endl;
            break;
        case Monday:
            cout << "Today is Monday!" << endl;
            break;
        case Tuesday:
            cout << "Today is Tuesday!" << endl;
            break;
        default:
            cout << "It's another day!" << endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

Example: Enum with Custom Values

You can also assign specific integer values to the enum constants.

#include 
using namespace std;

// Define an enum with custom values
enum Day {
    Sunday = 1,   // 1
    Monday = 2,   // 2
    Tuesday = 3,  // 3
    Wednesday = 4,// 4
    Thursday = 5, // 5
    Friday = 6,   // 6
    Saturday = 7  // 7
};

int main() {
    // Declare a variable of enum type
    Day today = Wednesday;  // Assign the value "Wednesday" to today
    
    cout << "Numeric value of today: " << today << endl;  // Outputs: 4

    return 0;
}

Output:

C++ Enums – Interview Questions

C++ Enums – Objective Questions (MCQs)

enum week {Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun};
cout << Wed;

Related C++ Enums Topics