IEnumerable.GetEnumerator Method
Definition
Important
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Returns an enumerator that iterates through a collection.
public:
System::Collections::IEnumerator ^ GetEnumerator();public System.Collections.IEnumerator GetEnumerator ();abstract member GetEnumerator : unit -> System.Collections.IEnumeratorPublic Function GetEnumerator () As IEnumeratorReturns
An IEnumerator object that can be used to iterate through the collection.
Examples
The following code example demonstrates the implementation of the IEnumerable interfaces for a custom collection. In this example, GetEnumerator is not explicitly called, but it is implemented to support the use of foreach (For Each in Visual Basic). This code example is part of a larger example for the IEnumerable interface.
using System;
using System.Collections;
// Simple business object.
public class Person
{
public Person(string fName, string lName)
{
this.firstName = fName;
this.lastName = lName;
}
public string firstName;
public string lastName;
}
// Collection of Person objects. This class
// implements IEnumerable so that it can be used
// with ForEach syntax.
public class People : IEnumerable
{
private Person[] _people;
public People(Person[] pArray)
{
_people = new Person[pArray.Length];
for (int i = 0; i < pArray.Length; i++)
{
_people[i] = pArray[i];
}
}
// Implementation for the GetEnumerator method.
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
return (IEnumerator) GetEnumerator();
}
public PeopleEnum GetEnumerator()
{
return new PeopleEnum(_people);
}
}
// When you implement IEnumerable, you must also implement IEnumerator.
public class PeopleEnum : IEnumerator
{
public Person[] _people;
// Enumerators are positioned before the first element
// until the first MoveNext() call.
int position = -1;
public PeopleEnum(Person[] list)
{
_people = list;
}
public bool MoveNext()
{
position++;
return (position < _people.Length);
}
public void Reset()
{
position = -1;
}
object IEnumerator.Current
{
get
{
return Current;
}
}
public Person Current
{
get
{
try
{
return _people[position];
}
catch (IndexOutOfRangeException)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException();
}
}
}
}
class App
{
static void Main()
{
Person[] peopleArray = new Person[3]
{
new Person("John", "Smith"),
new Person("Jim", "Johnson"),
new Person("Sue", "Rabon"),
};
People peopleList = new People(peopleArray);
foreach (Person p in peopleList)
Console.WriteLine(p.firstName + " " + p.lastName);
}
}
/* This code produces output similar to the following:
*
* John Smith
* Jim Johnson
* Sue Rabon
*
*/
Imports System.Collections
' Simple business object.
Public Class Person
Public Sub New(ByVal fName As String, ByVal lName As String)
Me.firstName = fName
Me.lastName = lName
End Sub
Public firstName As String
Public lastName As String
End Class
' Collection of Person objects, which implements IEnumerable so that
' it can be used with ForEach syntax.
Public Class People
Implements IEnumerable
Private _people() As Person
Public Sub New(ByVal pArray() As Person)
_people = New Person(pArray.Length - 1) {}
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To pArray.Length - 1
_people(i) = pArray(i)
Next i
End Sub
' Implementation of GetEnumerator.
Public Function GetEnumerator() As IEnumerator _
Implements IEnumerable.GetEnumerator
Return New PeopleEnum(_people)
End Function
End Class
' When you implement IEnumerable, you must also implement IEnumerator.
Public Class PeopleEnum
Implements IEnumerator
Public _people() As Person
' Enumerators are positioned before the first element
' until the first MoveNext() call.
Dim position As Integer = -1
Public Sub New(ByVal list() As Person)
_people = list
End Sub
Public Function MoveNext() As Boolean Implements IEnumerator.MoveNext
position = position + 1
Return (position < _people.Length)
End Function
Public Sub Reset() Implements IEnumerator.Reset
position = -1
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property Current() As Object Implements IEnumerator.Current
Get
Try
Return _people(position)
Catch ex As IndexOutOfRangeException
Throw New InvalidOperationException()
End Try
End Get
End Property
End Class
Class App
Shared Sub Main()
Dim peopleArray() As Person = { _
New Person("John", "Smith"), _
New Person("Jim", "Johnson"), _
New Person("Sue", "Rabon")}
Dim peopleList As New People(peopleArray)
Dim p As Person
For Each p In peopleList
Console.WriteLine(p.firstName + " " + p.lastName)
Next
End Sub
End Class
' This code produces output similar to the following:
'
' John Smith
' Jim Johnson
' Sue Rabon
Remarks
The foreach statement of the C# language (For Each in Visual Basic) hides the complexity of the enumerators. Therefore, using foreach is recommended, instead of directly manipulating the enumerator.
Enumerators can be used to read the data in the collection, but they cannot be used to modify the underlying collection.
Initially, the enumerator is positioned before the first element in the collection. The Reset method also brings the enumerator back to this position. At this position, the Current property is undefined. Therefore, you must call the MoveNext method to advance the enumerator to the first element of the collection before reading the value of Current.
Current returns the same object until either MoveNext or Reset is called. MoveNext sets Current to the next element.
If MoveNext passes the end of the collection, the enumerator is positioned after the last element in the collection and MoveNext returns false. When the enumerator is at this position, subsequent calls to MoveNext also return false. If the last call to MoveNext returns false, Current is undefined. To set Current to the first element of the collection again, you can call Reset followed by MoveNext.
If changes are made to the collection, such as adding, modifying, or deleting elements, the behavior of the enumerator is undefined.
The enumerator does not have exclusive access to the collection; therefore, enumerating through a collection is intrinsically not a thread-safe procedure. To guarantee thread safety during enumeration, you can lock the collection during the entire enumeration. To allow the collection to be accessed by multiple threads for reading and writing, you must implement your own synchronization.
