referencing a variable using concatenation C#

Question

I have a number of variables such as

int foo1;
int foo2;
int foo3;
int foo4;

Now, I have a for loop, going from var x = 0 to 3 (for the 4 variables), and i would like to use x to call the variables like this:

for(int x = 0; x < 4; x++)
{
    foo+x = bar;
}

so that when x = 1, then my variable foo1 will be assigned the value bar (foo+x = bar == foo1 = bar when x = 1).

Is there any way of doing this in C# or should I take an alternative approach?

There's a long-winded way to do it involving reflection, but you should use arrays (int[]) or a List<int> instead. — Blorgbeard
– Blorgbeard, Commented Aug 7, 2012 at 2:48

TimC · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07 02:48:19Z

4

This is not possible, unless you wanted to use Reflection, which would not be the best approach. without knowing what you are trying to achieve, it is a little difficult to answer, but you could create an array to hold your variables and then use x as an indexer to access them

for(int x = 0; x < 4; x++)
{
    fooarr[x] = bar;
}

answered Aug 7, 2012 at 2:48

TimC

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2 Comments

lums Over a year ago

Thanks for all the quick answers everyone, I was just checking to see if this was possible, I'll just use a multidimensional array instead like TimC suggested (seeing that each variable is actually an array not just an int, sorry about that). Thanks again for the quick assistance

TimC Over a year ago

@user1275067. Don't forget that ints are value types. If you assign one of the arrays values with a value type variable, changes to the arrays values wont affect the original variable.

Dan Teesdale · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07 02:58:21Z

1

Could you do something like this:

var listVariables = new Dictionary<string, int>
                    {
                        { "foo1", 1 },
                        { "foo2", 2 },
                        { "foo3", 3 },
                        { "foo4", 4 },
                    };

for (int x = 1; x <= 4; x++)
{
   listVariables["foo" + x] = bar;
}

edited Aug 7, 2012 at 2:58

answered Aug 7, 2012 at 2:52

Dan Teesdale

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1 Comment

lums Over a year ago

This actually is a good idea, I forgot about dictionaries, and is if fact a solution directly to what I was asking, thanks a lot :)

Tipx · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07 02:50:08Z

1

It's hard to judge what would be the best approach in your particular case, but it's most likely not the good approach. Do you absolutely need 4 VARIABLES, or only 4 values. A simple list, array, or dictionary would do the job:

int[] array = new int[4];
List<int> list = new List<int>(4);
List<int, int> dictionary1 = new Dictionary<int, int>(4);
List<string, int> dictionary2 = new Dictionary<string, int>(4);

for(int x = 0; x < 4; x++)
{
    array[x] = bar;
    list[x] = bar;
    dictionary1.Add(x, bar);
    dictionary2.Add("foo" + x.ToString(), bar);
}

answered Aug 7, 2012 at 2:50

Tipx

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Comments

Tim Jarvis · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07 02:49:13Z

0

Perhaps an alternative approach would be better ;-)

int[] foo;

// create foo

for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++)
{
  foo[i] = value;
}

answered Aug 7, 2012 at 2:49

Tim Jarvis

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Comments

TSL · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-07 02:52:38Z

0

If at all possible, you should use an array that contains four integers. You can declare it like so:

int[] foos = new int[4];

Then, in your loop, you should change to the following:

for(int i=0;i<foos.Length;i++)
{
     // Sets the ith foo to bar. Note that array indexes start at 0!
     foos[i] = bar;
}

By doing this, you will still have four integers; you just access them with foos[n], where n is the nth variable you want. Keep in mind that the first element of an array is at 0, so to get the 1st variable, you'll call foos[0], and to access the 4th foo, you'll call foos[3]

answered Aug 7, 2012 at 2:52

TSL

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