Initialising a KeyValuePair Array

Question

This seems like a straightforward thing to do, but I don't seem to be able to work out the correct syntax. I currently have this:

KeyValuePair<string, string>[] kvpArr = new KeyValuePair<string,string>[];

However, this seems to work:

KeyValuePair<string, string>[] kvpArr = new KeyValuePair<string,string>[10];

But I don't know the size of the array initially. I know I can use a list of KVPs and I probably will, but I just wanted to know how / if this could actually be done.

Answer 1

Arrays are fixed-size by definition. You can either specify the size as in your second code example, or you can have it inferred from the initialization:

KeyValuePair<string, string>[] kvpArr = new KeyValuePair<string, string>[]
{
    new KeyValuePair<string, string>(...),
    new KeyValuePair<string, string>(...),
    ...
}

If you want a variable length structure, I suggest you use the List<T>.

For more information about arrays, see the C# programming guide.

Answer 2

How about this?

var kvpArr = new List<KeyValuePair<string,string>>();