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Version: 3.0.1

Humanize and parse enums and flags

Orientation​

Enum humanization resolves one display label for each member: supported description/display metadata when present, otherwise the humanized member name. Dehumanization matches that resolved label case-insensitively. It does not index every possible raw, humanized, and metadata form. Flags enums are decomposed and joined through the active collection formatter.

Example​

The executable verifies a two-flag value, case-insensitive generic dehumanization, no-match behavior, and an unknown flag bit:

Program.cs
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Globalization;
using Humanizer;

CultureInfo.CurrentCulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US");
CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture = CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US");

var access = Access.Read | Access.Write;

AssertEqual("Can view and Can edit", access.Humanize());
AssertEqual(Access.Read, "CAN VIEW".DehumanizeTo<Access>());
AssertEqual(null, "missing".DehumanizeTo<Access>(OnNoMatch.ReturnsNull));
AssertEqual("", ((Access)8).Humanize());

Console.WriteLine("Can view and Can edit; CAN VIEW -> Read");

static void AssertEqual<T>(T expected, T actual)
{
    if (!EqualityComparer<T>.Default.Equals(expected, actual))
        throw new InvalidOperationException($"Expected '{expected}', got '{actual}'.");
}

[Flags]
enum Access
{
    [Display(Description = "None")]
    None = 0,
    [Display(Description = "Can view")]
    Read = 1,
    [Display(Description = "Can edit")]
    Write = 2
}

Choose metadata and casing​

Humanizer prefers supported description/display metadata before deriving words from the member name. That chosen value is also the member's dehumanization label. Pass LetterCasing when the derived label needs a specific case. Configurator.UseEnumDescriptionPropertyLocator can select a custom description-like property globally and must run before enum metadata is cached.

Handle missing input​

The default DehumanizeTo<TEnum> throws NoMatchFoundException. Pass OnNoMatch.ReturnsNull to the nullable generic overload when an unknown label is expected.

Format flags​

Known nonzero flags are humanized and joined using the current UI culture. A defined zero member uses its label. A value containing only unknown bits humanizes to an empty string.

Pitfall​

Labels must be unambiguous even though matching is case-insensitive. Prefer the generic DehumanizeTo<TEnum> overload. The runtime Type overload uses reflection and is annotated with RequiresDynamicCode and RequiresUnreferencedCode; it is not the safe default for trimmed or Native AOT applications.

Version notes​

Enum APIs span the documented corpus, but Humanizer 3 changes generic constraints and metadata configuration. The flags example runs against the selected package. Consult the selected API before migrating code that stores values as the base Enum type.