CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#string
WienerDog
WienerDog

Reputation: 115

convert from String to List<String> and pass to method in one line

It may be a little unnecessary, but I am looking for a way in C# to convert a String to a List< String > and pass it to a function all in one shot.

Let's say I have a function that takes a list of Strings and spits them out to the console.

public static void PrintStrings( List<String> messages )
{
   foreach ( String message in messages )
   {
      Console.WriteLine( message );
   }
   //Do other things
}

Now assume there is a case where I want to have only one String passed into the function. This is my question: How can I call this method passing only one String without putting it into a list beforehand? I thought this would have worked:

PrintStrings( Convert.ToString( "mymessage" ).ToList() );

But it is flagged in Visual Studio as 'The best overloaded match for 'PrintStrings' has some invalid arguments. Any suggestions would be great!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 5586

Answers (6)

iamkrillin
iamkrillin

Reputation: 6876

PrintStrings(new List<string>() { "mystring" })

Upvotes: 0

dlev
dlev

Reputation: 48596

You can use the params keyword to allow a variable number of arguments:

public static void PrintStrings(params string[] messages )
{
   foreach ( String message in messages )
   {
      Console.WriteLine( message );
   }
   //Do other things
}

Now, you can pass either an array of strings, a single string, or even multiple strings:

PrintStrings("hi");
PrintStrings("hi", "there");
PrintStrings(stringList.ToArray());

Note that this does become less efficient if you already have the List<string>. The best way to get around that, though, is to just create an overload that accepts a single string and operate on it accordingly:

public static void PrintStrings(string myString) { ... }

Finally, if you want to keep your current signature and not add an overload, you can call the method on a new List<string> like so:

PrintStrings(new List<string>() { myString });

Upvotes: 1

SirPyros
SirPyros

Reputation: 360

PrintStrings( new List<String>() {"myMessage"});

Upvotes: 1

asawyer
asawyer

Reputation: 17808

PrintStrings( (new string[] { "myMessage" }).ToList() );

edit - or maybe do an overload ie:

PrintStrings( "myMessage"  );

public static void PrintStrings( string message )
{
    AcutallyDoSomething( message );
}
public static void PrintStrings( List<String> messages )
{
   foreach ( String message in messages )
   {
      AcutallyDoSomething( message );
   }
   //Do other things
}

private static void AcutallyDoSomething(string msg)
{
   foreach ( String message in messages )
   {
      Console.WriteLine( message );
   }
}

Upvotes: 0

keyboardP
keyboardP

Reputation: 69372

You could just create an overloaded method:

public static void PrintStrings( string message )
{      
   //Do other things
}

Upvotes: 1

Gilad Naaman
Gilad Naaman

Reputation: 6550

Try PrintStrings (new List<String>(new string[]{"String"}));

Or create an overload of PrintStrings that accepts a single string.

Btw, I think it's better to accept IEnumerable<String> rather then List<String>

Upvotes: 3

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