List<T>.AsReadOnly Method

Definition

Returns a read-only ReadOnlyCollection<T> wrapper for the current collection.

C#
public System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection<T> AsReadOnly ();

Returns

An object that acts as a read-only wrapper around the current List<T>.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the AsReadOnly method. A List<T> of strings with a capacity of 4 is created, because the ultimate size of the list is known to be exactly 4. The list is populated with four strings, and the AsReadOnly method is used to get a read-only IList<T> generic interface implementation that wraps the original list.

An element of the original list is set to "Coelophysis" using the Item[] property (the indexer in C#), and the contents of the read-only list are displayed again to demonstrate that it is just a wrapper for the original list.

C#
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        List<string> dinosaurs = new List<string>(4);

        Console.WriteLine("\nCapacity: {0}", dinosaurs.Capacity);

        dinosaurs.Add("Tyrannosaurus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Amargasaurus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Mamenchisaurus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Deinonychus");

        Console.WriteLine();
        foreach(string s in dinosaurs)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(s);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("\nIList<string> roDinosaurs = dinosaurs.AsReadOnly()");
        IList<string> roDinosaurs = dinosaurs.AsReadOnly();

        Console.WriteLine("\nElements in the read-only IList:");
        foreach(string dinosaur in roDinosaurs)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("\ndinosaurs[2] = \"Coelophysis\"");
        dinosaurs[2] = "Coelophysis";

        Console.WriteLine("\nElements in the read-only IList:");
        foreach(string dinosaur in roDinosaurs)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur);
        }
    }
}

/* This code example produces the following output:

Capacity: 4

Tyrannosaurus
Amargasaurus
Mamenchisaurus
Deinonychus

IList<string> roDinosaurs = dinosaurs.AsReadOnly()

Elements in the read-only IList:
Tyrannosaurus
Amargasaurus
Mamenchisaurus
Deinonychus

dinosaurs[2] = "Coelophysis"

Elements in the read-only IList:
Tyrannosaurus
Amargasaurus
Coelophysis
Deinonychus
 */

Remarks

To prevent any modifications to the List<T> object, expose it only through this wrapper. A ReadOnlyCollection<T> object does not expose methods that modify the collection. However, if changes are made to the underlying List<T> object, the read-only collection reflects those changes.

This method is an O(1) operation.

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 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0