How do I clone a range of array elements to a new array?

Question

I have an array X of 10 elements. I would like to create a new array containing all the elements from X that begin at index 3 and ends in index 7. Sure I can easily write a loop that will do it for me but I would like to keep my code as clean as possible. Is there a method in C# that can do it for me?

Something like (pseudo code):

Array NewArray = oldArray.createNewArrayFromRange(int BeginIndex , int EndIndex)

Array.Copy doesn't fit my needs. I need the items in the new array to be clones. Array.copy is just a C-Style memcpy equivalent, it's not what I'm looking for.

Answer 1

You could add it as an extension method:

public static T[] SubArray<T>(this T[] data, int index, int length)
{
    T[] result = new T[length];
    Array.Copy(data, index, result, 0, length);
    return result;
}
static void Main()
{
    int[] data = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
    int[] sub = data.SubArray(3, 4); // contains {3,4,5,6}
}

---

Update re cloning (which wasn't obvious in the original question). If you really want a deep clone; something like:

public static T[] SubArrayDeepClone<T>(this T[] data, int index, int length)
{
    T[] arrCopy = new T[length];
    Array.Copy(data, index, arrCopy, 0, length);
    using (MemoryStream ms = new MemoryStream())
    {
        var bf = new BinaryFormatter();
        bf.Serialize(ms, arrCopy);
        ms.Position = 0;
        return (T[])bf.Deserialize(ms);
    }
}

This does require the objects to be serializable ([Serializable] or ISerializable), though. You could easily substitute for any other serializer as appropriate - XmlSerializer, DataContractSerializer, protobuf-net, etc.

Note that deep clone is tricky without serialization; in particular, ICloneable is hard to trust in most cases.

Answer 2

You can use Array.Copy(...) to copy into the new array after you've created it, but I don't think there's a method which creates the new array and copies a range of elements.

If you're using .NET 3.5 you could use LINQ:

var newArray = array.Skip(3).Take(5).ToArray();

but that will be somewhat less efficient.

See this answer to a similar question for options for more specific situations.

Answer 3

Have you considered using ArraySegment?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1hsbd92d.aspx

Answer 4

I see you want to do Cloning, not just copying references. In this case you can use .Select to project array members to their clones. For example, if your elements implemented IClonable you could do something like this:

var newArray = array.Skip(3).Take(5).Select(eachElement => eachElement.Clone()).ToArray();

Note: This solution requires .NET Framework 3.5.

Answer 5

The following code does it in one line:

// Source array
string[] Source = new string[] { "A", "B", "C", "D" };
// Extracting a slice into another array
string[] Slice = new List<string>(Source).GetRange(2, 2).ToArray();

Answer 6

In C# 8, they've introduced a new Range and Index type, which can be used like this:

int[] a = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 };
Index i1 = 3;  // number 3 from beginning
Index i2 = ^4; // number 4 from end
var slice = a[i1..i2]; // { 3, 4, 5 }

References:

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/whats-new/dotnet-core-3-0#ranges-and-indices
• https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/building-c-8-0/

Answer 7

string[] arr = { "Parrot" , "Snake" ,"Rabbit" , "Dog" , "cat" };

arr = arr.ToList().GetRange(0, arr.Length -1).ToArray();

Answer 8

Building on Marc's answer but adding the desired cloning behaviour

public static T[] CloneSubArray<T>(this T[] data, int index, int length)
    where T : ICloneable
{
    T[] result = new T[length];
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    { 
        var original = data[index + i];
        if (original != null)
            result[i] = (T)original.Clone();            
    return result;
}

And if implementing ICloneable is too much like hard work a reflective one using Håvard Stranden’s Copyable library to do the heavy lifting required.

using OX.Copyable;

public static T[] DeepCopySubArray<T>(
    this T[] data, int index, int length)
{
    T[] result = new T[length];
    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
    { 
        var original = data[index + i];
        if (original != null)
            result[i] = (T)original.Copy();            
    return result;
}

Note that the OX.Copyable implementation works with any of:

For the automated copy to work, though, one of the following statements must hold for instance:

• Its type must have a parameterless constructor, or
• It must be a Copyable, or
• It must have an IInstanceProvider registered for its type.

So this should cover almost any situation you have. If you are cloning objects where the sub graph contains things like db connections or file/stream handles you obviously have issues but that it true for any generalized deep copy.

If you want to use some other deep copy approach instead this article lists several others so I would suggest not trying to write your own.

Answer 9

You can do this fairly easially;

    object[] foo = new object[10];
    object[] bar = new object[7];   
    Array.Copy(foo, 3, bar, 0, 7);  

Answer 10

I think that the code you are looking for is:

Array.Copy(oldArray, 0, newArray, BeginIndex, EndIndex - BeginIndex)

Answer 11

As an alternative to copying the data you can make a wrapper that gives you access to a part of the original array as if it was a copy of the part of the array. The advantage is that you don't get another copy of the data in memory, and the drawback is a slight overhead when accessing the data.

public class SubArray<T> : IEnumerable<T> {

   private T[] _original;
   private int _start;

   public SubArray(T[] original, int start, int len) {
      _original = original;
      _start = start;
      Length = len;
   }

   public T this[int index] {
      get {
         if (index < 0 || index >= Length) throw new IndexOutOfRangeException();
         return _original[_start + index];
      }
   }

   public int Length { get; private set; }

   public IEnumerator<T> GetEnumerator() {
      for (int i = 0; i < Length; i++) {
        yield return _original[_start + i];
      }
   }

   IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
      return GetEnumerator();
   }

}

Usage:

int[] original = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
SubArray<int> copy = new SubArray<int>(original, 2, 2);

Console.WriteLine(copy.Length); // shows: 2
Console.WriteLine(copy[0]); // shows: 3
foreach (int i in copy) Console.WriteLine(i); // shows 3 and 4

Answer 12

In C# 8.0, you can now do many fancier works including reverse indices and ranges like in Python, such as:

int[] list = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6};
var list2 = list[2..5].Clone() as int[]; // 3, 4, 5
var list3 = list[..5].Clone() as int[];  // 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
var list4 = list[^4..^0].Clone() as int[];  // reverse index

Answer 13

Array.ConstrainedCopy will work.

public static void ConstrainedCopy (
    Array sourceArray,
    int sourceIndex,
    Array destinationArray,
    int destinationIndex,
    int length
)

Answer 14

It does not meet your cloning requirement, but it seems simpler than many answers to do:

Array NewArray = new ArraySegment(oldArray,BeginIndex , int Count).ToArray();

Answer 15

There's no single method that will do what you want. You will need to make a clone method available for the class in your array. Then, if LINQ is an option:

Foo[] newArray = oldArray.Skip(3).Take(5).Select(item => item.Clone()).ToArray();

class Foo
{
    public Foo Clone()
    {
        return (Foo)MemberwiseClone();
    }
}

Answer 16

How about useing Array.ConstrainedCopy:

int[] ArrayOne = new int[8] {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
int[] ArrayTwo = new int[5];
Array.ConstrainedCopy(ArrayOne, 3, ArrayTwo, 0, 7-3);

---

Below is my original post. It will not work

You could use Array.CopyTo:

int[] ArrayOne = new int[8] {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
int[] ArrayTwo = new int[5];
ArrayOne.CopyTo(ArrayTwo,3); //starts copy at index=3 until it reaches end of
                             //either array

Answer 17

How about this:

public T[] CloneCopy(T[] array, int startIndex, int endIndex) where T : ICloneable
{
    T[] retArray = new T[endIndex - startIndex];
    for (int i = startIndex; i < endIndex; i++)
    {
        array[i - startIndex] = array[i].Clone();
    }
    return retArray;

}

You then need to implement the ICloneable interface on all of the classes you need to use this on but that should do it.

Answer 18

I'm not sure how deep it really is, but:

MyArray.ToList<TSource>().GetRange(beginningIndex, endIndex).ToArray()

It's a bit of overhead, but it might cut out an unnecessary method.