What is Decimal.MinValue in C#?

Overview

Decimal.MinValue is a field in C# that represents the smallest possible value of decimal. It is a constant field and read-only, which means that it cannot be modified.

Syntax

public static readonly decimal MinValue;
Syntax to get minimum value of decimal

Return value

This field returns the value -79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,335.

Code example

// use System
using System;
// create class
class DecimalMinValue
{   
    // main method
    static void Main()
    {
      // print the field value
      Console.WriteLine(Decimal.MinValue);
    }
}

Explanation

  • Line 11: We print the value of the Decimal.MinValue field to the console.

If there is a decimal value that is less than the Decimal.MinValue, the field will throw an error, as this is the minimum value a decimal can be.

Code example

// use System
using System;
// create class
class DecimalMinValue
{
    static void Main()
    {
      // add to another
      // decimal value
      decimal newDecimalNumber =  -1.0m + Decimal.MinValue;
      // print result
      Console.WriteLine(newDecimalNumber);
    }
}

Explanation

  • Line 10: We create a decimal variable and initialize it with the sum of -1.0 and Decimal.MinValue. This will throw an error because no decimal value is supposed to be less than the Decimal.MinValue field.
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