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sealed (C# Reference)


When applied to a class, the sealed modifier prevents other classes from inheriting from it. In the following example, class B inherits from class A, but no class can inherit from class B.

class A {}    
sealed class B : A {}



In the following example, Z inherits from Y but Z cannot override the virtual function F that is declared in X and sealed in Y.

class X
    protected virtual void F() { Console.WriteLine("X.F"); }
    protected virtual void F2() { Console.WriteLine("X.F2"); }
class Y : X
    sealed protected override void F() { Console.WriteLine("Y.F"); }
    protected override void F2() { Console.WriteLine("Y.F2"); }
class Z : Y
    // Attempting to override F causes compiler error CS0239.
    // protected override void F() { Console.WriteLine("C.F"); }

    // Overriding F2 is allowed.
    protected override void F2() { Console.WriteLine("Z.F2"); }

When you define new methods or properties in a class, you can prevent deriving classes from overriding them by not declaring them as virtual.

It is an error to use the abstract modifier with a sealed class, because an abstract class must be inherited by a class that provides an implementation of the abstract methods or properties.

When applied to a method or property, the sealed modifier must always be used with override.

Because structs are implicitly sealed, they cannot be inherited.

For more information, see Inheritance (C# Programming Guide).

For more examples, see Abstract and Sealed Classes and Class Members (C# Programming Guide).


sealed class SealedClass
    public int x;
    public int y;

class SealedTest2
    static void Main()
        SealedClass sc = new SealedClass();
        sc.x = 110;
        sc.y = 150;
        Console.WriteLine("x = {0}, y = {1}", sc.x, sc.y);
// Output: x = 110, y = 150

In the previous example, you might try to inherit from the sealed class by using the following statement:

class MyDerivedC: SealedClass {} // Error

The result is an error message:

'MyDerivedC' cannot inherit from sealed class 'SealedClass'.


To determine whether to seal a class, method, or property, you should generally consider the following two points:

  • The potential benefits that deriving classes might gain through the ability to customize your class.

  • The potential that deriving classes could modify your classes in such a way that they would no longer work correctly or as expected.

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