C# .Copy()

The .Copy() method in C# copies a range of elements from one array to another array.

Syntax

Array.Copy(sourceArray, destinationArray, length);

Array.Copy(sourceArray, sourceStartingIndex, destinationArray, destinationStartingIndex, length);

.Copy() is a static method of the Array object. It takes the following arguments:

• sourceArray is copied, starting from the first element of the array.
• destinationArray is where the sourceArray is copied to.
• length is specified as an integer and determines how many elements are copied from the source to the destination array.

It is also possible to overload this method with two additional parameters:

• sourceStartingIndex is the index where the source array’s elements are first copied from.
• destinationStartingIndex is the destination array’s index to which the elements from the source array are copied to.

Example

The following example initializes the array sourceArray and the array destinationArray. Using a foreach loop, the contents of destinationArray are printed to the console:

using System;

public class Example
{
  public static void Main(string[] args)
  {
    string[] sourceArray = new string[] { "red", "orange", "yellow", "green", "blue", "indigo", "violet"};
    string[] destinationArray = new string[sourceArray.Length];

    // sourceArray.Length returns the integer for the third parameter, length.
    Array.Copy(sourceArray, destinationArray, sourceArray.Length);
      foreach (string element in destinationArray)
      {
        Console.Write($"{element} ");
      }
  }
}

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This is what is printed to the console:

red orange yellow green blue indigo violet

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Codebyte Example

The following codebyte is runnable and shows one of the several overload functions with the Array.Copy() method. In this example, sourceArray is copied starting from the third element in the array [2]and stores elements [2], [3], [4] starting as the first element in destinationArray. The remaining elements return 0:

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