List<T> Constructor
Initializes a new instance of the List<T> class that is empty and has the default initial capacity.
Namespace: System.Collections.Generic
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
The capacity of a List<T> is the number of elements that the List<T> can hold. As elements are added to a List<T>, the capacity is automatically increased as required by reallocating the internal array.
If the size of the collection can be estimated, using the List<T>(Int32) constructor and specifying the initial capacity eliminates the need to perform a number of resizing operations while adding elements to the List<T>.
The capacity can be decreased by calling the TrimExcess method or by setting the Capacity property explicitly. Decreasing the capacity reallocates memory and copies all the elements in the List<T>.
This constructor is an O(1) operation.
The following code example demonstrates the default constructor of the List<T> generic class. The default constructor creates a list with the default capacity, as demonstrated by displaying the Capacity property.
The code example adds, inserts, and removes items, showing how the capacity changes as these methods are used.
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Example { public static void Main() { List<string> dinosaurs = new List<string>(); Console.WriteLine("\nCapacity: {0}", dinosaurs.Capacity); dinosaurs.Add("Tyrannosaurus"); dinosaurs.Add("Amargasaurus"); dinosaurs.Add("Mamenchisaurus"); dinosaurs.Add("Deinonychus"); dinosaurs.Add("Compsognathus"); Console.WriteLine(); foreach(string dinosaur in dinosaurs) { Console.WriteLine(dinosaur); } Console.WriteLine("\nCapacity: {0}", dinosaurs.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", dinosaurs.Count); Console.WriteLine("\nContains(\"Deinonychus\"): {0}", dinosaurs.Contains("Deinonychus")); Console.WriteLine("\nInsert(2, \"Compsognathus\")"); dinosaurs.Insert(2, "Compsognathus"); Console.WriteLine(); foreach(string dinosaur in dinosaurs) { Console.WriteLine(dinosaur); } Console.WriteLine("\ndinosaurs[3]: {0}", dinosaurs[3]); Console.WriteLine("\nRemove(\"Compsognathus\")"); dinosaurs.Remove("Compsognathus"); Console.WriteLine(); foreach(string dinosaur in dinosaurs) { Console.WriteLine(dinosaur); } dinosaurs.TrimExcess(); Console.WriteLine("\nTrimExcess()"); Console.WriteLine("Capacity: {0}", dinosaurs.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", dinosaurs.Count); dinosaurs.Clear(); Console.WriteLine("\nClear()"); Console.WriteLine("Capacity: {0}", dinosaurs.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", dinosaurs.Count); } } /* This code example produces the following output: Capacity: 0 Tyrannosaurus Amargasaurus Mamenchisaurus Deinonychus Compsognathus Capacity: 8 Count: 5 Contains("Deinonychus"): True Insert(2, "Compsognathus") Tyrannosaurus Amargasaurus Compsognathus Mamenchisaurus Deinonychus Compsognathus dinosaurs[3]: Mamenchisaurus Remove("Compsognathus") Tyrannosaurus Amargasaurus Mamenchisaurus Deinonychus Compsognathus TrimExcess() Capacity: 5 Count: 5 Clear() Capacity: 5 Count: 0 */
Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
