Copy example. The String.Copy method receives a string and returns a copy of that string. This is a shared method—we do not call it on a string instance.
SharedHere: We use ReferenceEquals to see if two variables point to the same reference. String.Copy returns a separate, new string.
VB.NET program that uses String.Copy
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim value As String = "cat"
' Use String.Copy to copy a string.
Dim valueCopied As String = String.Copy(value)
' The copy has a different reference.
If Not ReferenceEquals(value, valueCopied) Then
Console.WriteLine("Not same reference")
End If
End Sub
End Module
Output
Not same reference
CopyTo. This method has nothing in common with String.Copy. CopyTo is an instance method and it copies the string's characters to a char array.
Here: We copy the first 3 characters in a string to a 3-element char array. We then use For-Each to display the array's contents.
For Each, ForTip: In VB.NET we use the last array index to indicate its length. So a 2 means a 3-element array.
Array VB.NET program that uses CopyTo
Module Module1
Sub Main()
Dim value As String = "dog"
' A 3-element char array.
Dim destination(2) As Char
' Copy string to the destination array.
value.CopyTo(0, destination, 0, 3)
' Loop over the resulting char array.
For Each letter As Char In destination
Console.WriteLine(letter)
Next
End Sub
End Module
Output
d
o
g