List<T>.TrimExcess Method
Sets the capacity to the actual number of elements in the List<T>, if that number is less than a threshold value.
Namespace: System.Collections.Generic
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
This method can be used to minimize a collection's memory overhead if no new elements will be added to the collection. The cost of reallocating and copying a large List<T> can be considerable, however, so the TrimExcess method does nothing if the list is at more than 90 percent of capacity. This avoids incurring a large reallocation cost for a relatively small gain.
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The current threshold of 90 percent might change in future releases. |
This method is an O(n) operation, where n is Count.
To reset a List<T> to its initial state, call the Clear method before calling the TrimExcess method. Trimming an empty List<T> sets the capacity of the List<T> to the default capacity.
The capacity can also be set using the Capacity property.
The following code example demonstrates the TrimExcess method. Several properties and methods of the List<T> class are used to add, insert, and remove items from a list of strings. Then the TrimExcess method is used to reduce the capacity to match the count, and the Capacity and Count properties are displayed. If the unused capacity had been less than 10 percent of total capacity, the list would not have been resized. Finally, the contents of the list are cleared.
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.
