.NET Framework Dictionaries Getting a value from a dictionary
Example
Given this setup code:
var dict = new Dictionary<int, string>()
{
{ 1, "First" },
{ 2, "Second" },
{ 3, "Third" }
};
You may want to read the value for the entry with key 1. If key doesn't exist getting a value will throw KeyNotFoundException, so you may want to first check for that with ContainsKey:
if (dict.ContainsKey(1))
Console.WriteLine(dict[1]);
This has one disadvantage: you will search through your dictionary twice (once to check for existence and one to read the value). For a large dictionary this can impact performance. Fortunately both operations can be performed together:
string value;
if (dict.TryGetValue(1, out value))
Console.WriteLine(value);
