In this article we will go with all important operations of generic list.

1. Initializing Lists

You can initialize a list with predefined values using collection initializer syntax.

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//Old way
List<Employee> list = new List<Employee>();
list.Add(new Employee(1, "Devesh omar", "Developer"));
list.Add(new Employee(2, "Ram kumar", "Manager"));
list.Add(new Employee(4, "Pintu Sachin", "Intern"))
list.Add(new Employee(5, "Sachin Raj", "Analyst"))

// new way
var employees = new List<Employee>
{
    new Employee(1, "Devesh omar", "Developer"),
    new Employee(2, "Ram kumar", "Manager"),
    new Employee(3, "S Kumar", "Designer"),
    new Employee(4, "Pintu Sachin", "Intern"),
    new Employee(5, "Sachin Raj", "Analyst")

};

2. Finding Items

You can use LINQ methods to find items in a list. we are going to search based on id =1

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var employee = employees.FirstOrDefault(e => e.Id == 1);

if (employee != null)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Found: {employee.Name}");
}

3. Checking for Existence

Use Any to check if any item in the list matches a condition.

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bool exists = employees.Any(e => e.Id == 1);
Console.WriteLine($"Employee exists: {exists}");

4. Removing Items by Condition

You can remove items that match a certain condition using RemoveAll.

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employees.RemoveAll(e => e.Position == "Manager");

We can see Manager record deleted.

5. Sorting Lists

Use the Sort method to sort a list based on a property. We have sorted based on name

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employees.Sort((x, y) => x.Name.CompareTo(y.Name));

6. Efficiently Cloning a List

clone a list using the ToList method.

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var clonedList = employees.ToList();

7. Using LINQ for Complex Queries
we are have written linq to search data and order data.

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var developers = employees.Where(e => e.Position == "Developer")
                          .OrderBy(e => e.Name)
                          .ToList();

developers.ForEach(e => Console.WriteLine(e.Name));

8. Grouping Items

Group items based on a property using GroupBy.

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var groupedByPosition = employees.GroupBy(e => e.Position);

foreach (var group in groupedByPosition)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Position: {group.Key}");
    foreach (var employee in group)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"  {employee.Name}");
    }
}

9. Converting a List to Another Collection Type

Convert a list to an array or other collection types.

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Employee[] employeeArray = employees.ToArray();
Dictionary<int, Employee> employeeDictionary = employees.ToDictionary(e => e.Id);

10.Using ForEach

You can use the ForEach method to perform an action on each item in the list.

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employees.ForEach(e => Console.WriteLine(e.Name));

11 .Adding a Range of Items

Add multiple items to a list at once using AddRange.

📄
var employees = new List<Employee>
        {
            new Employee(1, "Devesh omar", "Developer"),
    new Employee(2, "Ram kumar", "Manager"),
    new Employee(3, "S Kumar", "Designer")
        };

// adding 
var newEmployees = new List<Employee>
        {
            new Employee(4, "Pintu Sachin", "Intern"),
            new Employee(5, "Sachin Raj", "Analyst")
        };
employees.AddRange(newEmployees);

In this article we have learnt all major function and operation of generic list.