Initializing an array class variable in a constructor

Question

The following code gives errors:

public class SomeClass
{
    private int a;
    private int b;
    private int c;
    private int[] values;

    public SomeClass()
    {
        a = 1;
        b = 2;
        c = 3;
        values = {a, b, c};
    }

    public static void Main()
    {
        SomeClass sc = new SomeClass();
    }

}

I want values to contain a,b, and c.

I also tried initializing the array outside of the constructor like this.

private int[] values = {a, b, c};

and initializing it fully inside the constructor like this:

int[] values = {a, b, c};

but none of these do the trick.

Answer 1

Arrays are an object and require you to explicitly use new to construct them.

You can use:

values = new int[] {a, b, c};

Or the even shorter syntax:

values = new[] {a, b, c};

On a side note, if you're writing the array declaration and initialization in one statement, you can actually write them as you did:

int[] values2 = { a, b, c};

However, since you have values declared as a field, this won't work within the constructor for the values initialization, as you're initializing separate from your declaration.

Answer 2

This would work:

values = new[] { a, b, c };

Or

values = new int[] { a, b, c };

Further Reading

• Arrays Tutorial for more examples.

Answer 3

Try following

int[] values = new int[]{a, b, c};