Adding @ in front of a keyword « Introduction « Language Basics

If we have to use a keyword as an identifier we can add @ to the keyword as prefix.


using System;

class @public
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        int i = 0;
        int j = 2;
        
        Console.WriteLine("i=" + i);
        Console.WriteLine("j=" + j);
    }
}


i=0
j=2

If we use public without @ as the class name, C# compiler generates the following error message.


C:\g>csc Program.cs
Microsoft (R) Visual C# 2010 Compiler version 4.0.30319.1
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Program.cs(3,7): error CS1041: Identifier expected; 'public' is a keyword
Program.cs(3,7): error CS1513: } expected
Program.cs(4,1): error CS1518: Expected class, delegate, enum, interface, or struct
Program.cs(5,12): error CS1518: Expected class, delegate, enum, interface, or struct
Program.cs(5,29): error CS1001: Identifier expected
Program.cs(5,31): error CS1518: Expected class, delegate, enum, interface, or struct
Program.cs(13,1): error CS1022: Type or namespace definition, or end-of-file expected