List<T>.Count Property
Gets the number of elements contained in the List<T>.
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)
Capacity is the number of elements that the List<T> can store before resizing is required. Count is the number of elements that are actually in the List<T>.
Capacity is always greater than or equal to Count. If Count exceeds Capacity while adding elements, the capacity is increased by automatically reallocating the internal array before copying the old elements and adding the new elements.
Retrieving the value of this property is an O(1) operation.
The following example demonstrates how to check the capacity and count of a List<T> that contains a simple business object, and illustrates using the TrimExcess method to remove extra capacity.
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; // Simple business object. A PartId is used to identify a part // but the part name be different for the same Id. public class Part : IEquatable<Part> { public string PartName { get; set; } public int PartId { get; set; } public override string ToString() { return "ID: " + PartId + " Name: " + PartName; } public override bool Equals(object obj) { if (obj == null) return false; Part objAsPart = obj as Part; if (objAsPart == null) return false; else return Equals(objAsPart); } public override int GetHashCode() { return base.GetHashCode(); } public bool Equals(Part other) { if (other == null) return false; return (this.PartId.Equals(other.PartId)); } // Should also override == and != operators. } public class Example { public static void Main() { List<Part> parts = new List<Part>(); Console.WriteLine("\nCapacity: {0}", parts.Capacity); parts.Add(new Part() { PartName = "crank arm", PartId = 1234 }); parts.Add(new Part() { PartName = "chain ring", PartId = 1334 }); parts.Add(new Part() { PartName = "seat", PartId = 1434 }); parts.Add(new Part() { PartName = "cassette", PartId = 1534 }); parts.Add(new Part() { PartName = "shift lever", PartId = 1634 }); ; Console.WriteLine(); foreach (Part aPart in parts) { Console.WriteLine(aPart); } Console.WriteLine("\nCapacity: {0}", parts.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", parts.Count); parts.TrimExcess(); Console.WriteLine("\nTrimExcess()"); Console.WriteLine("Capacity: {0}", parts.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", parts.Count); parts.Clear(); Console.WriteLine("\nClear()"); Console.WriteLine("Capacity: {0}", parts.Capacity); Console.WriteLine("Count: {0}", parts.Count); } /* This code example produces the following output. Capacity: 0 ID: 1234 Name: crank arm ID: 1334 Name: chain ring ID: 1434 Name: seat ID: 1534 Name: cassette ID: 1634 Name: shift lever Capacity: 8 Count: 5 TrimExcess() Capacity: 5 Count: 5 Clear() Capacity: 5 Count: 0 */ }
The following example shows the value of the Count property at various points in the life of a list. After the list has been created and populated and its elements displayed, the Capacity and Count properties are displayed. These properties are displayed again after the TrimExcess method has been called, and again after 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); } // Shows accessing the list using the Item property. 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 */
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 2.0
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1