List<T>.Clear Method
Removes all elements from the List<T>.
Namespace: System.Collections.Generic
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Count is set to 0, and references to other objects from elements of the collection are also released.
Capacity remains unchanged. To reset the capacity of the List<T>, call the TrimExcess method or set the Capacity property directly. Decreasing the capacity reallocates memory and copies all the elements in the List<T>. Trimming an empty List<T> sets the capacity of the List<T> to the default capacity.
This method is an O(n) operation, where n is Count.
The following code example demonstrates the Clear method and various other properties and methods of the List<T> generic class. The Clear method is used at the end of the program, to remove all items from the list, and the Capacity and Count properties are then displayed.
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.