C# Array Basics

C# Array

Arrays are using for store similar data types grouping as a single unit. We can access Array
elements by its numeric index. The array indexes start at zero. The default value of numeric array
elements are set to zero, and reference elements are set to null.

Integer Array

Adding values to a C# array

Declaring and Initializing an Integer Array

int[] array = new int[4];

array[0] = 10;
array[1] = 20;
array[2] = 30;
array[3] = 40;

In the above code we declare an Integer Array of four elements and assign the value to array
index. That means we assign values to array index 0 - 4.

The following code shows how to add items in an Array using for loop.

int[] items = new int[100];

for (int cnt = 0; cnt <= 100; cnt++)
{
items[cnt] = yourValueHere;
}

We can retrieve these values from array by using a for loop.

for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)

{
MessageBox.Show (array[i]);
}
Initialize Array

Also we can declare and initialize an array in one statement.

int[] array = new int[] {10, 20, 30, 40};

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Note that in the above code we did not specify the length of the array so the compiler will do it
for us.

How to print contents of array horizontally?

int[] array = new int[] {10, 20, 30, 40};

foreach(var item in array)
{
Console.Write(item.ToString());
}

String Array

Declaring and Initializing a String Array

string[] week = new string[7];

week[0] = "Sunday";
week[1] = "Monday";

The above C# code declare a string array of 7 strings and assign some values to it.

string[] week = new string[] {"Sunday","Monday","Tuesday"};

The above code declare and initialize a string array with values.

string str = week[1];

We can access the Arrays elements by providing its numerical index, the above statement we
access the second value from the week Array.

In the following program , we declare an Array "week" capable of seven String values and
assigns the seven values as days in a week . Next step is to retrieve the elements of the Array
using a for loop . For finding the end of an Array we used the Length function of Array Object.

string[] week = new string[7];

week[0] = "Sunday";
week[1] = "Monday";
week[2] = "Tuesday";
week[3] = "Wednsday";
week[4] = "Thursday";
week[5] = "friday";
week[6] = "Saturday";
for (int i = 0; i &lt; = week.Length-1; i++)
{
MessageBox.Show(week[i]);
}

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How to find the length(size) of an Array ?

Array.Length Property returned the total number of elements in all the dimensions of the Array.

String[] flag = new string[] {"TRUE","FALSE"};

int sizeOfArray = flag.Length;
How to resize an Array

An array can be resized with Array.Resize < T > Method , that means We make an array bigger
or smaller. Array.Resize < T > Method Changes the number of elements of a one-dimensional
array to the specified new size.

Array.Resize < T > - T is the type of the elements of the array.

This method should be used with only one dimensional Array. This method allocates a new array
with the specified size, copies elements from the old array to the new one, and then replaces the
old array with the new one.

Resize Array

// Initialize array for example

char[] array = new char[5];
array[0] = 'A';
array[1] = 'B';
array[2] = 'C';
array[3] = 'D';
array[4] = 'E';
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
MessageBox.Show (array[i].ToString ());
}
Array.Resize(ref array, 3);
for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
{
MessageBox.Show(array[i].ToString ());
}

Array.Resize(ref array, 3);

In the above code we resize the array to 3 elements.

for..each loop and array

int[] array = { 10, 30, 50 }; //array declaration

foreach (int element in array)

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{
Console.WriteLine(element);
}
Converting String array to List

string[] week = new string[7];

week[0] = "Sunday";
week[1] = "Monday";
week[2] = "Tuesday";
week[3] = "Wednsday";
week[4] = "Thursday";
week[5] = "friday";
week[6] = "Saturday";
List<string> lst = new List<string>(week);
foreach (string day in lst)
{
MessageBox.Show(day);
}
How can I test if an array contains a certain value?

string[] week = new string[7];

week[0] = "Sunday";
week[1] = "Monday";
week[2] = "Tuesday";
week[3] = "Wednsday";
week[4] = "Thursday";
week[5] = "friday";
week[6] = "Saturday";
string value = "Wednsday";
int pos = Array.IndexOf(week, value);
if (pos > -1)
MessageBox.Show(value + " exist !");
else
MessageBox.Show(value + " not exist !")

Array Sort
You can sort the arrays in ascending order as well as descending . We can use Array.Sort method
for sorts the elements in a one-dimensional array. Also we can use Array.Reverse method for
reverses the sequence of the elements in the entire one-dimensional Array.

How to check if a value exists in an array ?

The next program shows how to find an element from an Array

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string stringToCheck = "GHI";

string[] stringArray = { "ABC", "DEF", "GHI", "JKL" };
foreach (string x in stringArray)
{
if (x.Equals (stringToCheck))
{
MessageBox.Show("Find the string ..." + x);
}
}

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