Single-Dimensional Arrays (C#)

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C# Programming Guide

Single-Dimensional Arrays (C# Programming Guide)

You can declare an array of five integers as in the following example:

int[] array = new int[5];

This array contains the elements from array[0] to array[4]. The new operator is used to create the array and initialize the array elements to their default values. In this example, all the array elements are initialized to zero.

An array that stores string elements can be declared in the same way. For example:

string[] stringArray = new string[6];

Array Initialization

It is possible to initialize an array upon declaration, in which case, the rank specifier is not needed because it is already supplied by the number of elements in the initialization list. For example:

int[] array1 = new int[5] { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 };

A string array can be initialized in the same way. The following is a declaration of a string array where each array element is initialized by a name of a day:

string[] weekDays = new string[] { "Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat" };

When you initialize an array upon declaration, it is possible to use the following shortcuts:

int[] array2 = { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 };
string[] weekDays2 = { "Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat" };

It is possible to declare an array variable without initialization, but you must use the new operator when you assign an array to this variable. For example:

int[] array3;
array3 = new int[] { 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 };   // OK
//array3 = {1, 3, 5, 7, 9};   // Error

Value Type and Reference Type Arrays

Consider the following array declaration:

SomeType[] array4 = new SomeType[10];

The result of this statement depends on whether SomeType is a value type or a reference type. If it is a value type, the statement results in creating an array of 10 instances of the type SomeType. If SomeType is a reference type, the statement creates an array of 10 elements, each of which is initialized to a null reference.

For more information on value types and reference types, see Types (C# Reference).

Reference

Multidimensional Arrays (C# Programming Guide)
Jagged Arrays (C# Programming Guide)
Array

Concepts

C# Programming Guide
Arrays (C# Programming Guide)