What is the role of the using operator in C# and what is its main purpose?

The using operator in C# is used for automatic management of the lifetime of objects that implement the IDisposable interface. Its main purpose is to ensure that the Dispose() method is called to release resources (such as file handles, database connections) immediately after the object is used.

Example:

using (var stream = new FileStream("file.txt", FileMode.Open))
{
    // Work with the file
}
// stream.Dispose() is automatically called here

This helps prevent resource leaks and simplifies the code, as there is no need to explicitly call Dispose() in a finally block.