Is it possible to Peek below the surface of a Stack?

Question

Is it possible to Peek at the value of a C# Stack variable layers below the surface? In my example, I need to Peek at the value one below. I could Peek to record the value into a temporary variable, Pop and read, then Push the temporary values back, but is there a better way?

Answer 1

A Stack is also an IEnumerable, so you can use the standard methods for manipulating those. For example, with the System.Linq namespace open, you can write stack.Skip(1).First().

Answer 2

Consider using a linked list for this purpose. As with a stack, popping from it (using RemoveFirst) is an O(1) operation, as is accessing the first element (peeking). Unlike a stack, you can also access the second element very easily with <stack object>.First.Next in constant time.