C# Language Equals and GetHashCode Default Equals behavior.

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Example

Equals is declared in the Object class itself.

public virtual bool Equals(Object obj);

By default, Equals has the following behavior:

  • If the instance is a reference type, then Equals will return true only if the references are the same.

  • If the instance is a value type, then Equals will return true only if the type and value are the same.

  • string is a special case. It behaves like a value type.

namespace ConsoleApplication
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //areFooClassEqual: False
            Foo fooClass1 = new Foo("42");
            Foo fooClass2 = new Foo("42");
            bool areFooClassEqual = fooClass1.Equals(fooClass2);
            Console.WriteLine("fooClass1 and fooClass2 are equal: {0}", areFooClassEqual);
            //False

            //areFooIntEqual: True
            int fooInt1 = 42;
            int fooInt2 = 42;
            bool areFooIntEqual = fooInt1.Equals(fooInt2);
            Console.WriteLine("fooInt1 and fooInt2 are equal: {0}", areFooIntEqual);

            //areFooStringEqual: True
            string fooString1 = "42";
            string fooString2 = "42";
            bool areFooStringEqual = fooString1.Equals(fooString2);
            Console.WriteLine("fooString1 and fooString2 are equal: {0}", areFooStringEqual);
        }
    }

    public class Foo
    {
        public string Bar { get; }

        public Foo(string bar)
        {
            Bar = bar;
        }
    }
}


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