Hashtable class in C# is a part of the operations. It represents a collection of key-value pairs that are organized based on the hash code of the key. The Hashtable class provides various types of methods that are used to perform different types of operations on the hashtables. In Hashtable, keys are used to access the elements present in the collection. For very large Hashtable objects, we can increase the maximum capacity to 2 billion elements on a 64-bit system.
- In Hashtable, a key cannot be null but the value can be.
- In Hashtable, key objects must be immutable as long as they are used as keys in the Hashtable.
- The capacity of a Hashtable is the number of elements that Hashtable can hold.
- A hash function is provided by each key object in the Hashtable.
Example: This example demonstrates how to create a Hashtable, add key-value pairs, and display the elements.
C#
// C# Program to demonstrates Hashtable
using System;
using System.Collections;
class Geeks {
static void Main()
{
// Create a Hashtable of string
// keys and integer values
Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
// Adding elements to the Hashtable
ht.Add("One", 1);
ht.Add("Two", 2);
ht.Add("Three", 3);
Console.WriteLine("Hashtable Elements:");
foreach(DictionaryEntry i in ht)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{i.Key}: {i.Value}");
}
}
}
OutputHashtable Elements:
Two: 2
Three: 3
One: 1
Declaration of Hashtable
In C#, the Hashtable is declared as:
Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
Constructors
Constructor | Description |
---|
Hashtable() | Initalizes a new, empty instance with default parameters (initial capacity, load factor, etc.).
|
Hashtable(IDictionary) | Copies elements from the specified dictionary to a new Hashtable with default parameters |
Hashtable(IDictionary, IEqualityComparer) | Copies elements from the specified dictionary to a new Hashtable and uses the provided IEqualityComparer |
Hashtable(Int32) | Initializes a new, empty instance with a specified initial capacity and default parameters. |
Hashtable(Int32, Single) | Initializes a new, empty instance with a specified initial capacity and load factor. |
Hashtable(Int32, Single, IEqualityComparer) | Initializes a new, empty instance with a specified initial capacity, load factor, and IEqualityComparer |
Hashtable(SerializationInfo, StreamingContext) | Initalizes a new instance from serialized data (for deserialization purposes). |
Example: This example demonstrates how to create and initialize two Hashtable objects, insert key-value pairs and print the mappings.
C#
// Using Hashtable() Constructor
using System;
using System.Collections;
class Geeks {
static void Main()
{
// Initialize Hashtable
Hashtable ht1 = new Hashtable();
Hashtable ht2 = new Hashtable();
// Inserting elements using Add() method
ht1.Add(1, "one");
ht1.Add(2, "two");
ht1.Add(3, "three");
ht2.Add(4, "four");
ht2.Add(5, "five");
ht2.Add(6, "six");
// Print mappings to the console
Console.WriteLine("Mappings of ht1: ");
foreach(DictionaryEntry i in ht1)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{i.Key} - {i.Value}");
}
Console.WriteLine("Mappings of ht2: ");
foreach(DictionaryEntry i in ht2)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{i.Key} - {i.Value}");
}
}
}
OutputMappings of ht1:
3 - three
2 - two
1 - one
Mappings of ht2:
6 - six
5 - five
4 - four
Properties
Properties | Description |
---|
comparer | Gets or sets the IComparer to use for the Hashtable. |
Count | Gets the number of key/value pairs contained in the Hashtable. |
EqualityComparer | Gets the IEqualityComparer to use for the Hashtable. |
hcp | Gets or sets the object that can dispense hash codes. |
IsFixedSize | Gets a value indicating whether the Hashtable has a fixed size. |
IsReadOnly | Gets a value indicating whether the Hashtable is read-only. |
IsSynchronized | Gets a value indicating whether access to the Hashtable is synchronized (thread safe). |
Item[Object] | Gets or sets the value associated with the specified key. |
Keys | Gets an ICollection containing the keys in the Hashtable. |
SyncRoot | Gets an object that can be used to synchronize access to the Hashtable. |
Values | Gets an ICollection containing the values in the Hashtable. |
Example: This example demonstrates how to use the IsSynchronized property check if a Hashtable is thread-safe and the Count property to get the number of elements in a Hashtable.
C#
// C# program to demonstrates the use
// of IsSynchronized and Count property
using System;
using System.Collections;
class Geeks {
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// create and initialize Hashtable using Add() method
Hashtable h1 = new Hashtable();
h1.Add("1", "Welcome");
h1.Add("2", "to");
h1.Add("3", "geeks");
h1.Add("4", "for");
h1.Add("5", "geeks");
// Creating a synchronized packing around the Hashtable
Hashtable h2 = Hashtable.Synchronized(h1);
// print the status of both Hashtables
Console.WriteLine("h1 Hashtable is {0}.",
h1.IsSynchronized ? "synchronized" : "not synchronized");
Console.WriteLine("h2 Hashtable is {0}.",
h2.IsSynchronized ? "synchronized" : "not synchronized");
// Using Count Property
Console.WriteLine("Total Number of Elements in h1: " + h1.Count);
}
}
Outputh1 Hashtable is not synchronized.
h2 Hashtable is synchronized.
Total Number of Elements in h1: 5
Methods
Method | Description |
---|
Add(Object, Object) | Adds an element with the specified key and value into the Hashtable. |
Clear() | Removes all elements from the Hashtable. |
Clone() | Creates a shallow copy of the Hashtable. |
Contains(Object) | Determines whether the Hashtable contains a specific key. |
ContainsKey(Object) | Determines whether the Hashtable contains a specific key. |
ContainsValue(Object) | Determines whether the Hashtable contains a specific value. |
CopyTo(Array, Int32) | Copies the Hashtable elements to a one-dimensional Array instance at the specified index. |
Equals(Object) | Determines whether the specified object is equal to the current object. |
GetEnumerator() | Returns an IDictionaryEnumerator that iterates through the Hashtable. |
GetHashCode() | Serves as the default hash function. |
GetObjectData(SerializationInfo, StreamingContext) | Implements the ISerializable interface and returns the data needed to serialize the Hashtable. |
GetType() | Gets the Type of the current instance. |
Remove(Object) | Removes the element with the specified key from the Hashtable. |
Synchronized(Hashtable) | Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) wrapper for the Hashtable. |
ToString() | Returns a string that represents the current object. |
Example:
C#
// C# program to demonstrate the working of Add()
// and Remove() Methods
using System;
using System.Collections;
class Geeks {
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// create and initialize Hash table
// using Add() method
Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
ht.Add("1", "Geek1");
ht.Add("2", "Geek2");
ht.Add("3", "Geek3");
ht.Add("4", "Geek4");
ht.Add("5", "Geek5");
ICollection k = ht.Keys;
Console.WriteLine("Hashtable Contains:");
foreach(var i in k)
{
Console.WriteLine(i + "-" + ht[i]);
}
Console.WriteLine();
// Remove element 4
// using Remove() method
ht.Remove("4");
ht.Remove("5");
// printing updated Hash table
Console.WriteLine("Hashtable after removing element 4:");
foreach(var i in k)
{
Console.WriteLine(i + "-" + ht[i]);
}
}
}
OutputHashtable Contains:
3-Geek3
5-Geek5
4-Geek4
2-Geek2
1-Geek1
Hashtable after removing element 4:
3-Geek3
2-Geek2
1-Geek1