---
title: Enums
description: A fixed list of items (enumeration).
---

<Alert severity="info">
Enums are not a [built-in Luau type](https://luau.org/typecheck#builtin-types) and they exist only in Roblox, but they're conceptually similar to other Luau data types and are something you'll work with frequently in Roblox development.
</Alert>

The **enumeration** data type, or `Datatype.Enum`, is a fixed list of items. You can access enums through the global object called `Datatype.Enum`. For a full list and their respective items, see [Enums](/reference/engine/enums).

## Enum items

To get all items of an enum, call the `Datatype.Enum:GetEnumItems()|GetEnumItems()` method on it. The following code sample demonstrates how to call `Datatype.Enum:GetEnumItems()|GetEnumItems()` on the `Enum.PartType` enum.

```lua
local partTypes = Enum.PartType:GetEnumItems()

for index, enumItem in partTypes do
	print(enumItem)
end

--[[
	Enum.PartType.Ball
	Enum.PartType.Block
	Enum.PartType.Cylinder
	Enum.PartType.Wedge
	Enum.PartType.CornerWedge
]]
```

## Data type

The `Datatype.EnumItem` is the data type for items in enums. An `Datatype.EnumItem` has three properties:

- `Name` — The name of the `Datatype.EnumItem`.
- `Value` — The numerical index of the `Datatype.EnumItem`.
- `EnumType` — The parent `Datatype.Enum` of the `Datatype.EnumItem`.

Some properties of objects can only be items of certain enums. For example, the `Class.Part.Shape|Shape` property of a `Class.Part` object is an item of the `Enum.PartType` enum. The following code sample demonstrates how to print the properties of the `Enum.PartType.Cylinder` enum item.

```lua
print(Enum.PartType.Cylinder.Name) --> "Cylinder"
print(Enum.PartType.Cylinder.Value) --> 2
print(Enum.PartType.Cylinder.EnumType) --> PartType
```

To assign an `Datatype.EnumItem` as the value of a property, use the full `Datatype.Enum` declaration. You can also use the item's `Datatype.EnumItem.Name|Name` property as a string.

```lua
local Workspace = game:GetService("Workspace")

local part = Instance.new("Part") -- Create a new part

part.Shape = Enum.PartType.Cylinder -- By full enum item declaration (best practice)
part.Shape = "Cylinder" -- By enum item's name as a string

part.Parent = Workspace
```