How do I change my new list without changing the original list?

Question

I have a list that gets filled in with some data from an operation and I am storing it in the memory cache. Now I want another list which contains some sub data from the list based on some condition.

As can be seen in the below code I am doing some operation on the target list. The problem is that whatever changes I am doing to the target list is also being done to the mainList. I think its because of the reference is same or something.

All I need is that operation on the target list not affect data inside the main list.

List<Item> target = mainList;
SomeOperationFunction(target);

 void List<Item> SomeOperationFunction(List<Item> target)
{
  target.removeat(3);
  return target;
}

Answer 1

You need to clone your list in your method, because List<T> is a class, so it's reference-type and is passed by reference.

For example:

List<Item> SomeOperationFunction(List<Item> target)
{
  List<Item> tmp = target.ToList();
  tmp.RemoveAt(3);
  return tmp;
}

Or

List<Item> SomeOperationFunction(List<Item> target)
{
  List<Item> tmp = new List<Item>(target);
  tmp.RemoveAt(3);
  return tmp;
}

or

List<Item> SomeOperationFunction(List<Item> target)
{
  List<Item> tmp = new List<Item>();
  tmp.AddRange(target);
  tmp.RemoveAt(3);
  return tmp;
}

Answer 2

You need to make a copy of the list so that changes to the copy won't affect the original. The easiest way to do that is to use the ToList extension method in System.Linq.

var newList = SomeOperationFunction(target.ToList());