C# - Hashtable Class

The Hashtable class represents a collection of key-and-value pairs that are organized based on the hash code of the key. It uses the key to access the elements in the collection.

A hash table is used when you need to access elements by using key, and you can identify a useful key value. Each item in the hash table has a key/value pair. The key is used to access the items in the collection.

Methods and Properties of the Hashtable Class

The following table lists some of the commonly used properties of the Hashtable class −

Sr.No.	Property & Description
1	Count Gets the number of key-and-value pairs contained in the Hashtable.
2	IsFixedSize Gets a value indicating whether the Hashtable has a fixed size.
3	IsReadOnly Gets a value indicating whether the Hashtable is read-only.
4	Item Gets or sets the value associated with the specified key.
5	Keys Gets an ICollection containing the keys in the Hashtable.
6	Values Gets an ICollection containing the values in the Hashtable.

The following table lists some of the commonly used methods of the Hashtable class −

Sr.No.	Method & Description
1	public virtual void Add(object key, object value); Adds an element with the specified key and value into the Hashtable.
2	public virtual void Clear(); Removes all elements from the Hashtable.
3	public virtual bool ContainsKey(object key); Determines whether the Hashtable contains a specific key.
4	public virtual bool ContainsValue(object value); Determines whether the Hashtable contains a specific value.
5	public virtual void Remove(object key); Removes the element with the specified key from the Hashtable.

Example

The following example demonstrates the concept −

Live Demo

using System;
using System.Collections;

namespace CollectionsApplication {
   class Program {
      static void Main(string[] args) {
         Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
         
         ht.Add("001", "Zara Ali");
         ht.Add("002", "Abida Rehman");
         ht.Add("003", "Joe Holzner");
         ht.Add("004", "Mausam Benazir Nur");
         ht.Add("005", "M. Amlan");
         ht.Add("006", "M. Arif");
         ht.Add("007", "Ritesh Saikia");
         
         if (ht.ContainsValue("Nuha Ali")) {
            Console.WriteLine("This student name is already in the list");
         } else {
            ht.Add("008", "Nuha Ali");
         }
         
         // Get a collection of the keys.
         ICollection key = ht.Keys;
         
         foreach (string k in key) {
            Console.WriteLine(k + ": " + ht[k]);
         }
         Console.ReadKey();
      }
   }
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

001: Zara Ali
002: Abida Rehman
003: Joe Holzner
004: Mausam Benazir Nur
005: M. Amlan
006: M. Arif
007: Ritesh Saikia
008: Nuha Ali

csharp_collections.htm