C# Explicitly Removing Event Handlers

Question

I was wondering if setting an object to null will clean up any eventhandlers that are attached to the objects events...

e.g.

Button button = new Button();
button.Click += new EventHandler(Button_Click);
button = null;

button = new Button();
button.Click += new EventHandler(Button_Click);
button = null;

etc...

Will this cause a memory leak?

Answer 1

If there are no other references to button anywhere, then there is no need to remove the event handler here to avoid a memory leak. Event handlers are one-way references, so removing them is only needed when the object with events is long-lived, and you want to avoid the handlers (i.e. objects with handler methods) from living longer than they should. In your example, this isn't the case.

Answer 2

Summary: You need to explicitly unsubscribe when the event source/publisher is long-lived and the subscribers are not. If the event source out-lives the subscribers, all registered subscribers are kept "alive" by the event source (not collected by the GC) unless they unsubscribe (and remove the reference to themselves from the event publisher's notification list)

Also this is a duplicate of Is it necessary to explicitly remove event handlers in C# and has a good title n answer. So voting to close.