How to convert a list into array with Linq

In this post, I am going to explain how we can convert an generic list to simple int array with Help of Linq. Recently, I was working on an application and there I needed an Int array of for list of ids in generic list. I tried various methods and then with the help of ‘Select’ operator and ToArray method I have easily converted an generic list to the int array.

Lets take a simple example. I need a contact id list from a generic list of contacts and following is my contact class.

public class Contact
{
    public int ContactId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Now I have created a new GetContacts methods to create a new Generic List of Contacts.

private static List<Contact> GetContacts() {
    List<Contact> contacts=new List<Contact>();

    for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
        Contact contact=new Contact{ContactId = i,Name = string.Format("Name {0}",i)};
        contacts.Add(contact);
    }

    return contacts;
}

Here is the main method for my console application.

static void Main() {
    List<Contact> contacts = GetContacts();
    int[] contactIds = contacts.Select(c => c.ContactId).ToArray();

    foreach (int contactId in contactIds) {
        Console.WriteLine(contactId);
    }
}

Here you can see with Select Operator and ToArray method I can easily convert a list into array. Let’s run the example

.

Hope you like it. Stay tuned for more..