Initialize a byte array to a certain value, other than the default null? [duplicate]

Question

For small arrays use array initialisation syntax:

var sevenItems = new byte[] { 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20 };

For larger arrays use a standard for loop. This is the most readable and efficient way to do it:

var sevenThousandItems = new byte[7000];
for (int i = 0; i < sevenThousandItems.Length; i++)
{
    sevenThousandItems[i] = 0x20;
}

Of course, if you need to do this a lot then you could create a helper method to help keep your code concise:

byte[] sevenItems = CreateSpecialByteArray(7);
byte[] sevenThousandItems = CreateSpecialByteArray(7000);

// ...

public static byte[] CreateSpecialByteArray(int length)
{
    var arr = new byte[length];
    for (int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++)
    {
        arr[i] = 0x20;
    }
    return arr;
}

Use this to create the array in the first place:

byte[] array = Enumerable.Repeat((byte)0x20, <number of elements>).ToArray();

Replace <number of elements> with the desired array size.

You can use Enumerable.Repeat()

Enumerable.Repeat generates a sequence that contains one repeated value.

Array of 100 items initialized to 0x20:

byte[] arr1 = Enumerable.Repeat((byte)0x20,100).ToArray();

var array = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(new string(' ', 100));

If you need to initialise a small array you can use:

byte[] smallArray = new byte[] { 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20, 0x20 };

If you have a larger array, then you could use:

byte[] bitBiggerArray Enumerable.Repeat(0x20, 7000).ToArray();

Which is simple, and easy for the next guy/girl to read. And will be fast enough 99.9% of the time. (Normally will be the BestOption™)

However if you really really need super speed, calling out to the optimized memset method, using P/invoke, is for you: (Here wrapped up in a nice to use class)

public static class Superfast
{
    [DllImport("msvcrt.dll",
              EntryPoint = "memset",
              CallingConvention = CallingConvention.Cdecl,
              SetLastError = false)]
    private static extern IntPtr MemSet(IntPtr dest, int c, int count);

    //If you need super speed, calling out to M$ memset optimized method using P/invoke
    public static byte[] InitByteArray(byte fillWith, int size)
    {
        byte[] arrayBytes = new byte[size];
        GCHandle gch = GCHandle.Alloc(arrayBytes, GCHandleType.Pinned);
        MemSet(gch.AddrOfPinnedObject(), fillWith, arrayBytes.Length);
        gch.Free();
        return arrayBytes;
    }
}

Usage:

byte[] oneofManyBigArrays =  Superfast.InitByteArray(0x20,700000);