Dictionary<TKey, TValue> Constructor

Every key in a Dictionary<TKey, TValue> must be unique according to the default equality comparer.

Dictionary<TKey, TValue> requires an equality implementation to determine whether keys are equal. This constructor uses the default generic equality comparer, EqualityComparer<T>.Default. If type TKey implements the System.IEquatable<T> generic interface, the default equality comparer uses that implementation. Alternatively, you can specify an implementation of the IEqualityComparer<T> generic interface by using a constructor that accepts a comparer parameter.

Note
If you can estimate the size of the collection, using a constructor that specifies the initial capacity eliminates the need to perform a number of resizing operations while adding elements to the Dictionary<TKey, TValue>.

This constructor is an O(1) operation.

The following code example creates an empty Dictionary<TKey, TValue> of strings with string keys and uses the Add method to add some elements. The example demonstrates that the Add method throws an ArgumentException when attempting to add a duplicate key.

This code example is part of a larger example provided for the Dictionary<TKey, TValue> class.

// Create a new dictionary of strings, with string keys. 
//
Dictionary<string, string> openWith = 
    new Dictionary<string, string>();

// Add some elements to the dictionary. There are no  
// duplicate keys, but some of the values are duplicates.
openWith.Add("txt", "notepad.exe");
openWith.Add("bmp", "paint.exe");
openWith.Add("dib", "paint.exe");
openWith.Add("rtf", "wordpad.exe");

// The Add method throws an exception if the new key is  
// already in the dictionary. 
try
{
    openWith.Add("txt", "winword.exe");
}
catch (ArgumentException)
{
    Console.WriteLine("An element with Key = \"txt\" already exists.");
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

Portable Class Library

.NET for Windows Store apps

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.

Reference