Dictionaries in C#

Methods of Dictionaries in C#

Basic Operations of Dictionaries in C#

1. Add or update elements

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class NewDictionary{
  static public void Main () 
{
    Dictionary<string, string> countries = new Dictionary<string, string>(){
    {"Australia","Canberra"}, 
    {"Austria","Vienna"}
    };
    
    // Using Add() method
    countries.Add("China","Hongkong");
    countries.Add("Egypt","Giza");

    // Printing key-value pairs 
    foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> ele in countries)
    {
       Console.WriteLine("{0} and {1}",ele.Key, ele.Value);
    }
    Console.WriteLine();

    // Updating the values of selected keys
    countries["Egypt"] = "Cairo";
    countries["China"] = "Beijing"; 

    foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> ele1 in countries)
    {
       Console.WriteLine("{0} and {1}", ele1.Key, ele1.Value);
    }
  }
}

Output:

Australia and Canberra
Austria and Vienna
China and Hongkong
Egypt and Giza

Australia and Canberra
Austria and Vienna
China and Beijing
Egypt and Cairo

2. Accessing key and values:

• To get the value of a given key

dictionary_name[key]

• To get the collection of keys in the dictionary

Dictionary<TKey, TValue>.KeyCollection keys = dictionary_name.Keys;

• To get the collection of values in the dictionary.

Dictionary<TKey, TValue>.ValueCollection values = dictionary_name.Values;

• To retrieve all key-value pairs as objects for traversal.

foreach (KeyValuePair<TKey, TValue> obj in dictionary_name)

Example

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class NewDictionary{
  static public void Main () 
{
    Dictionary<string, string> countries = new Dictionary<string, string>(){
    {"Australia","Canberra"}, 
    {"Austria","Vienna"}, 
    {"China","Beijing"}
    };
    
    // To display value of a key
    Console.WriteLine("{0} is the capital of Austria\n", countries["Austria"]);
    
    Dictionary<string,string>.KeyCollection keys = countries.Keys;

    // To display keys
    foreach (string key in keys)
    {
         Console.WriteLine("key: {0}",key); 
    }
    Console.WriteLine();

    foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> ele in countries)
    {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} and {1}", ele.Key, ele.Value);
    } 
    }
}

Output:

Vienna is the capital of Austria

key: Australia
key: Austria
key: China

Australia and Canberra
Austria and Vienna
China and Beijing

3. Remove elements.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class NewDictionary{
  static public void Main () 
{
    Dictionary<string, string> countries = new Dictionary<string, string>(){
    {"Australia","Canberra"}, 
    {"Austria","Vienna"}, 
    {"China","Beijing"}
    };
  
    // To display number of key-value pairs
    Console.WriteLine("Initial dictionary count: {0}", countries.Count);
    
    foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> ele in countries)
    {
       Console.WriteLine("{0} and {1}", ele.Key, ele.Value);
    }
 
    // Removing elements
    countries.Remove("Austria");
    countries.Remove("Australia");

    Console.WriteLine("\nAfter removing Austria and Australia: {0}", countries.Count);
    
    foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> ele in countries)
    {
    Console.WriteLine("{0} and {1}", ele.Key, ele.Value);
    }
  
    //clears entire dictionary
    countries.Clear(); 
    }
}

Output:

Initial dictionary count: 3
Australia and Canberra
Austria and Vienna
China and Beijing

After removing Austria and Australia: 1
China and Beijing

Frequently Asked Questions

What is dictionary of classes in C#?

A dictionary of classes in C# is a collection that associates unique keys with objects of a specific class type. It allows efficient retrieval and manipulation of objects based on their unique keys, providing a way to organize and access class instances in memory.

What is the difference between dictionary and Hashtable in C#?

The main difference lies in their implementation. While both store key-value pairs, a dictionary is a generic collection introduced in .NET Framework 2.0, offering type safety and better performance. Hashtable, on the other hand, is not type-safe and relies on boxing and unboxing, leading to potential performance overhead.

What is faster than dictionary in C#?

For scenarios requiring fast key-based lookups and memory efficiency, SortedDictionary or SortedList can be faster than Dictionary in C#. They maintain sorted order based on keys, offering efficient retrieval but may have slower insertion and deletion operations compared to Dictionary.

What is the difference between array and dictionary in C#?

An array in C# is a fixed-size collection of elements of the same data type, accessed using an index. In contrast, a dictionary is a dynamic collection that stores key-value pairs, allowing efficient retrieval of values based on unique keys. Arrays are indexed by integer values, while dictionaries are indexed by keys.

When to use dictionary in C#?

Use a dictionary in C# when you need to associate unique keys with values and require fast lookup operations based on those keys. It's particularly useful for scenarios involving data indexing, caching, or maintaining mappings between objects.

Conclusion

This article extensively discusses Dictionaries in C#. They play a crucial role in organizing and accessing data efficiently. They provide a powerful tool for associating unique keys with values, facilitating fast lookup operations and enabling various data manipulation tasks.

Also check out - Data Dictionary In Software Engineering

Recommended articles:

• Dictionaries and Sets in Python
• Singleton Design Pattern C#
• What is Namespace

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