C# Feature – unsafe & fixed

Overview

The unsafe context permits pointer operations; fixed pins managed objects to stable addresses.

Introduced In

C# 1 (2002)

Example

unsafe
{
  int x = 42;
  int* p = &x;
  *p = 100;
}

Gotchas & Best Practices

• Requires project setting in your .csproj:

<PropertyGroup>
  <AllowUnsafeBlocks>true</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
  <!-- optionally: <AllowUnsafeBlocks>$(Configuration)==Release</AllowUnsafeBlocks> -->
</PropertyGroup>

• Prefer safe alternatives unless necessary for interop or performance.