C# Combine Arrays: List, Array.Copy and Buffer.BlockCopy
Combine two one-dimensional arrays into a single array. Use List, AddRange, Array.Copy and Buffer.BlockCopy.
Combine arrays. Two arrays can be merged. We have two arrays with the same types of elements. For further processing in your program, we must combine these 2 arrays.Array
This allows us to use both parts of the data in a single collection. Several approaches are possible. They all have benefits and negatives.
AddRange. This code is unlikely to fail due to off-by-one programming errors. When you have 2 arrays, you can use several ways to combine them.
Here: We use the List type, and call the AddRange() and ToArray methods to get the combined array.
C# program that combines two arrays
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// ::: Declare two integer arrays with five elements each
int[] array1 = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
int[] array2 = { 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 };
// ::: Loop through the two arrays and print them
foreach (int element in array1)
{
Console.WriteLine(element);
}
foreach (int element in array2)
{
Console.WriteLine(element);
}
// ::: Create new List of integers and call AddRange twice
var list = new List<int>();
list.AddRange(array1);
list.AddRange(array2);
// ::: Call ToArray to convert List to array
int[] array3 = list.ToArray();
// ::: Loop through array elements of combined array and print them
foreach (int element in array3)
{
Console.WriteLine(element);
}
}
}
Output
1 (array1 start) (array3 start)
2
3
4
5
6 (array2 start)
7
8
9
10
Array.Copy. This example program shows how to use Array.Copy to combine arrays. This is more efficient than the List approach. It only requires a new array.Array.Copy
Note: This pattern of code is the same as that for the Buffer.BlockCopy method shown next: it just uses element counts, not byte counts.
C# program that uses Array.Copy
using System;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
int[] values1 = { 4, 4, 4 };
int[] values2 = { 5, 5 };
int[] all = new int[values1.Length + values2.Length];
Array.Copy(values1, all, values1.Length);
Array.Copy(values2, 0, all, values1.Length, values2.Length);
foreach (int value in all)
{
Console.WriteLine(value);
}
}
}
Output
4
4
4
5
5
BlockCopy. Next we use Buffer.BlockCopy to merge two int arrays. This method acts upon bytes, not elements (which are four bytes here).
Important: We must multiply the element counts by the sizeof(int) to get correct units.
Here: We merge two 3-element int arrays. We BlockCopy the first into the "final" array, and then BlockCopy the second.
Tip: This version would be the fastest one according to my previous benchmarks of BlockCopy.
C# program that uses BlockCopy
using System;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
// ... Two input arrays.
int[] array = { 1, 2, 3 };
int[] array2 = { 4, 5, 6 };
// ... Destination array.
int[] final = new int[array.Length + array2.Length];
// ... Copy first array.
Buffer.BlockCopy(array,
0,
final,
0,
array.Length * sizeof(int));
// ... Copy second.
// Note the starting offset.
Buffer.BlockCopy(array2,
0,
final,
array.Length * sizeof(int),
array2.Length * sizeof(int));
// ... Display.
foreach (int value in final)
{
Console.WriteLine(value);
}
}
}
Output
1
2
3
4
5
6
AddRange, internals. Here we discuss the internal implementation of the AddRange() method. The AddRange method internally calls InsertRange.
And: It calls the fast Array.Copy method to do a bitwise copy. If you call Array.Copy manually, you could improve performance.
A summary. With AddRange on the List we can combine arrays. This method will also work with more than 2 arrays. The arrays must all have the same type of elements.
