Dispose and return values in .NET

Question

Consider the following:

        TextReader reader = new StreamReader(file);
        XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
        return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(reader);

And

        using (TextReader reader = new StreamReader(file))
        {
            XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(T));
            return (T)xmlSerializer.Deserialize(reader);
        }

What will actually happen in the latter piece of code? Will the Dispose() be called?

Answer 1

Yes it will be called.

The using statement is syntactic sugar for:

try
{
    // Do stuff
    return;
}
finally
{
    // Dispose
}

and the finally will get called even on the return.

So you are safe to use this.

Answer 2

Yes, the Dispose will be called.