Is there an equivalent to String.Split that returns a generic list?

Question

I'd like to do something like this:

Dim Foo as String = "a,b,c,d,e"
Dim Boo as List(of String) = Foo.Split(","c)

Of course Foo.Split returns a one-dimensional array of String, not a generic List. Is there a way to do this without iterating through the array to turn it into a generic List?

Answer 1

If you use Linq, you can use the ToList() extension method

Dim strings As List<string> = string_variable.Split().ToList<string>();

Answer 2

You can use the List's constructor.

String foo = "a,b,c,d,e";
List<String> boo = new List<String>(foo.Split(","));

Answer 3

If you don't want to use LINQ, you can do:

Dim foo As String = "a,b,c,d,e"
Dim boo As New List(Of String)(foo.Split(","c))

Answer 4

Do you really need a List<T> or will IList<T> do? Because string[] already implements the latter... just another reason why it's worth programming to the interfaces where you can. (It could be that in this case you really can't, admittedly.)

Answer 5

The easiest method would probably be the AddRange method.

Dim Foo as String = "a,b,c,d,e"
Dim Boo as List(of String)

Boo.AddRange(Foo.Split(","c))

Answer 6

Here is how I am doing it ... since the split is looking for an array of char I clip off the first value in my string.

var values = labels.Split(" "[0]).ToList<string>();