What is Protected Access Modifier in C# (C Sharp)?

When you mark a member to be protected, then it will be accessible within the class and all the derived classes of this class.

Consider the following example:

public class sampleClass {
protected int member1;
}
public class derivedClass:sampleClass {
public void setMember1(int data) {
member1 = data;
}
}

In this example, protected member called member1 of sampleClass is accessed directly inside derivedClass which inherits from sampleClass. This is acceptable because protected members will be visible in derived classes of sampleClass.

Consider the following code below:

public class testClass {
public static void Main() {
sampleClass obj = new sampleClass();
obj.member1 = 10;
}
}

Here you access the protected member inside a class that is not derived from sampleClass. Hence you will end up in the following error:

“‘sampleClass.member1’ is inaccessible due to protection level”

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