I have been researching this for a while now, and am still unsure on how to implement and what is the best way to return two lists from a separate method?
I know there are similar question floating around but they seem to contradict each other as to which is the best way to do this. I just need simple and effective resolution to my problem. Thanks in advance.
There are many ways.
Return a collection of the lists. This isn't a nice way of doing it unless you don't know the amount of lists or if it is more than 2-3 lists.
public static IEnumerable<List<int>> Method2(int[] array, int number)
{
return new List<List<int>> { list1, list2 };
}
Create an object with properties for the list and return it:
public class YourType
{
public List<int> Prop1 { get; set; }
public List<int> Prop2 { get; set; }
}
public static YourType Method2(int[] array, int number)
{
return new YourType { Prop1 = list1, Prop2 = list2 };
}
Return a tuple of two lists - Especially convenient if working with C# 7.0 tuples
public static (List<int>list1, List<int> list2) Method2(int[] array, int number)
{
return (new List<int>(), new List<int>());
}
var (l1, l2) = Method2(arr,num);
Tuples prior to C# 7.0:
public static Tuple<List<int>, List<int>> Method2(int[] array, int number)
{
return Tuple.Create(list1, list2);
}
//usage
var tuple = Method2(arr,num);
var firstList = tuple.Item1;
var secondList = tuple.Item2;
I'd go for options 2 or 3 depending on the coding style and where this code fits in the bigger scope. Before C# 7.0 I'd probably recommend on option 2.