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Tommy Williams
Tommy Williams

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Simplify foreach loops with the null-coalescing operator

#dotnet #csharp

Do you ever get tired of writing code like this?

if (listOfStrings != null)
{
    foreach (string item in listOfStrings)
    { ... }
}
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Wouldn't it be nice if the foreach loop automatically checked for null and skipped the loop the same way it does when there are no items?

Here's where the null-coalescing operator can help:

foreach (string item in listOfStrings ?? Enumerable.Empty<string>())
{ ... }
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Lots more in the official docs from Microsoft

Top comments (2)

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devguyky profile image
devguyky •

My personal preference for more readable code would be to adopt a 'happy path' and return from the method before reaching the loop.

if (listOfStrings is null)
   return;

foreach (string item in listOfStrings)
{ ... }
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A good article on adopting the happy path

dglsparsons image

Write better code and be a better programmer by NEVER USING ELSE statements

Douglas Parsons ・ Nov 10 '20 ・ 5 min read

#webdev #go #javascript #beginners
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jayjeckel profile image
Jay Jeckel •

It's a neat trick, but all I can see when looking at it is an unnecessary allocation. I guess it comes down to which one finds more annoying, writing an if statement one time or burning extra cpu and memory every time the line of code is run.

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