by value or by reference in c#

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Hello,

I created a class in c#:

C#

public myClass()
{
  .....
}

1) If I assign the class like this:

C#

myClass m1 = new myClass();
....
myClass m2 = m1;

will m1 be copied (by value) to m2, or will it be assigned by reference?

2)I created an ArrayList.
If I add an instance of myClass to the ArrayList, will it be added by value (copy) or by reference?

Thanks

Posted 17-Oct-12 23:22pm

user_code

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bbirajdar 18-Oct-12 5:27am

by ref

2 solutions

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Sushil Mate · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17T23:34:00

Solution 1

If it is class, it will be assigned by ref :)

Posted 17-Oct-12 23:34pm

Sushil Mate

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17T23:40:00

Classes are always References (structs are Value types) and References are always copies of the reference, not the values within the class itself unless a copy constructor is created, and used explicitly: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173116(v=vs.80).aspx[^]

So an assignment of a reference value to another reference variable will always result in two references that "point" at the same data instance:

C#

MyClass m1 = new MyClass();
m1.Name = "Joe";
MyClass m2 = m1;
Console.WriteLine (m1.Name + " = " + m2.Name);
m1.Name = "Mike";
Console.WriteLine (m1.Name + " = " + m2.Name);

Will output:

Joe = Joe
Mike = Mike