EqualityComparer<T>.Default Property

Definition

Returns a default equality comparer for the type specified by the generic argument.

public static System.Collections.Generic.EqualityComparer<T> Default { get; }

Property Value

The default instance of the EqualityComparer<T> class for type T.

Examples

The following example creates a collection that contains elements of the Box type and then searches it for a box matching another box by calling the FindFirst method, twice.

The first search does not specify any equality comparer, which means FindFirst uses EqualityComparer<T>.Default to determine equality of boxes. That in turn uses the implementation of the IEquatable<T>.Equals method in the Box class. Two boxes are considered equal if their dimensions are the same.

The second search specifies an equality comparer (BoxEqVolume) that defines equality by volume. Two boxes are considered equal if their volumes are the same.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var redBox = new Box(8, 8, 4);
        var blueBox = new Box(6, 8, 4);
        var greenBox = new Box(4, 8, 8);

        var boxes = new[] { redBox, blueBox, greenBox };

        var boxToFind = new Box(4, 8, 8);

        var foundByDimension = boxes.FindFirst(boxToFind);

        Console.WriteLine($"Found box {foundByDimension} by dimension.");

        var foundByVolume = boxes.FindFirst(boxToFind, new BoxEqVolume());

        Console.WriteLine($"Found box {foundByVolume} by volume.");
    }
}

public static class CollectionExtensions
{
    public static T FindFirst<T>(
        this IEnumerable<T> collection, T itemToFind, IEqualityComparer<T> comparer = null)
    {
        comparer = comparer ?? EqualityComparer<T>.Default;

        foreach (var item in collection)
        {
            if (comparer.Equals(item, itemToFind))
            {
                return item;
            }
        }

        throw new InvalidOperationException("No matching item found.");
    }
}

public class BoxEqVolume : EqualityComparer<Box>
{
    public override bool Equals(Box b1, Box b2)
    {
        if (object.ReferenceEquals(b1, b2))
            return true;

        if (b1 is null || b2 is null)
            return false;

        return b1.Volume == b2.Volume;
    }

    public override int GetHashCode(Box box) => box.Volume.GetHashCode();
}

public class Box : IEquatable<Box>
{
    public Box(int height, int length, int width)
    {
        this.Height = height;
        this.Length = length;
        this.Width = width;
    }

    public int Height { get; }
    public int Length { get; }
    public int Width { get; }

    public int Volume => Height * Length * Width;

    public bool Equals(Box other)
    {
        if (other is null)
            return false;

        return this.Height == other.Height && this.Length == other.Length
            && this.Width == other.Width;
    }

    public override bool Equals(object obj) => Equals(obj as Box);
    public override int GetHashCode() => (Height, Length, Width).GetHashCode();

    public override string ToString() => $"{Height} x {Length} x {Width}";
}

/* This example produces the following output:
 *
    Found box 4 x 8 x 8 by dimension.
    Found box 8 x 8 x 4 by volume.
 */

Remarks

The Default property checks whether type T implements the System.IEquatable<T> interface and, if so, returns an EqualityComparer<T> that uses that implementation. Otherwise, it returns an EqualityComparer<T> that uses the overrides of Object.Equals and Object.GetHashCode provided by T.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0

See also