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.NET Framework 2.0
System.Collections
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This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0

Other versions are also available for the following:
IEqualityComparer Interface
Defines methods to support the comparison of objects for equality.

Namespace: System.Collections
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Visual Basic (Declaration)
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
Public Interface IEqualityComparer
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim instance As IEqualityComparer
C#
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)] 
public interface IEqualityComparer
C++
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)] 
public interface class IEqualityComparer
J#
/** @attribute ComVisibleAttribute(true) */ 
public interface IEqualityComparer
JScript
ComVisibleAttribute(true) 
public interface IEqualityComparer
XAML
Not applicable.

This interface allows the implementation of customized equality comparison for collections. That is, you can create your own definition of equality, and specify that this definition be used with a collection type that accepts the IEqualityComparer interface. In the .NET Framework, constructors of the Hashtable, NameValueCollection, and OrderedDictionary collection types accept this interface.

This interface supports only equality comparisons. Customization of comparisons for sorting and ordering is provided by the IComparer interface.

For the generic version of this interface, see System.Collections.Generic.IEqualityComparer.

The following code example demonstrates the implementation of a case-insensitive IEqualityComparer. In this example, the CaseInsensitiveComparer.Compare method is used to determine whether two objects are equal, based on the provided CultureInfo.

Visual Basic
Public Class myCultureComparer
    Implements IEqualityComparer

    Dim myComparer As CaseInsensitiveComparer

    Public Sub New()
        myComparer = CaseInsensitiveComparer.DefaultInvariant
    End Sub

    Public Sub New(ByVal myCulture As CultureInfo)
        myComparer = New CaseInsensitiveComparer(myCulture)
    End Sub

    Public Function Equals1(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) _
        As Boolean Implements IEqualityComparer.Equals

        If (myComparer.Compare(x, y) = 0) Then
            Return True
        Else
            Return False
        End If
    End Function

    Public Function GetHashCode1(ByVal obj As Object) _
        As Integer Implements IEqualityComparer.GetHashCode
        Return obj.ToString().ToLower().GetHashCode()
    End Function
End Class
C#
class myCultureComparer : IEqualityComparer
{
    public CaseInsensitiveComparer myComparer;

    public myCultureComparer()
    {
        myComparer = CaseInsensitiveComparer.DefaultInvariant;
    }

    public myCultureComparer(CultureInfo myCulture)
    {
        myComparer = new CaseInsensitiveComparer(myCulture);
    }

    public new bool Equals(object x, object y)
    {
        if (myComparer.Compare(x, y) == 0)
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }

    public int GetHashCode(object obj)
    {
        return obj.ToString().ToLower().GetHashCode();
    }
}
C++
ref class myCultureComparer : IEqualityComparer
{
private:
    CaseInsensitiveComparer^ myComparer;

public:
    myCultureComparer()
    {
        myComparer = CaseInsensitiveComparer::DefaultInvariant;
    }

    myCultureComparer(CultureInfo^ myCulture)
    {
        myComparer = gcnew CaseInsensitiveComparer(myCulture);
    }

    virtual bool Equals(Object^ x, Object^ y) 
    {
        if (myComparer->Compare(x, y) == 0)
        {
            return true;
        }
        else
        {
            return false;
        }
    }

    virtual int GetHashCode(Object^ obj)
    {
        return obj->ToString()->ToLower()->GetHashCode();
    }
};

Windows 98, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows CE, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Starter Edition

The Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 is supported on Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP SP2, and Windows Server 2003 SP1.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 2.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 1.0
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