Safe element of array access

Question

What is the safe method to access an array element, without throwing IndexOutOfRangeException, something like TryParse, TryRead, using extension methods or LINQ?

Answer 1

Use the System.Linq ElementAtOrDefault method. It handles an out-of-range access without throwing an exception. It returns a default value in the case of an invalid index.

int[] array = { 4, 5, 6 };
int a = array.ElementAtOrDefault(0);    // output: 4
int b = array.ElementAtOrDefault(1);    // output: 5
int c = array.ElementAtOrDefault(-1);   // output: 0
int d = array.ElementAtOrDefault(1000); // output: 0

See Also: DotNetPearls - ElementAt