Lists

Lists in C# are very similar to lists in Java. A list is an object which holds variables in a specific order. The type of variable that the list can store is defined using the generic syntax. Here is an example of defining a list called numbers which holds integers.

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();

The difference between a list and an array is that lists are dynamic sized, while arrays have a fixed size. When you do not know the amount of variables your array should hold, use a list instead.

Once the list is initialized, we can begin inserting numbers into the list.

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();
numbers.Add(1);
numbers.Add(2);
numbers.Add(3);

We can also add a whole array to a list using the AddRange function:

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();
int[] array = new int[] { 1, 2, 3 };
numbers.AddRange(array);

Removing from a list

We can use Remove to remove an item from a list by specifying the item we want to remove.

List<string> fruits = new List<string>();
// add fruits
fruits.Add("apple");
fruits.Add("banana");
fruits.Add("orange");

// now remove the banana
fruits.Remove("banana");
Console.WriteLine(fruits.Count);

We can also use RemoveAt to specify an index of an item to remove. In our case, to remove the banana, we will use the index 1.

List<string> fruits = new List<string>();
// add fruits
fruits.Add("apple");
fruits.Add("banana");
fruits.Add("orange");

// now remove the banana
fruits.RemoveAt(1);
Console.WriteLine(fruits.Count);

Concatenating lists

We can use AddRange to join between lists.

List<string> food = new List<string>();
food.Add("apple");
food.Add("banana");

List<string> vegetables = new List<string>();
vegetables.Add("tomato");
vegetables.Add("carrot");

food.AddRange(vegetables);
Console.WriteLine(food.Count);

Exercise

Construct a list of the first 5 prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11) called primeNumbers.