How do you use 'foreach' statement for accessing array elements in C#

The foreach statement in C# provides a simple way to iterate through all elements in an array without needing to manage index variables. Unlike a traditional for loop, foreach automatically accesses each element in sequence.

Syntax

Following is the syntax for using foreach with arrays −

foreach (dataType variable in arrayName) {
   // code to process each element
}

The foreach loop automatically iterates through each element, assigning the current element's value to the specified variable.

Using foreach with Arrays

Example

using System;

class MyArray {
   static void Main(string[] args) {
      int[] n = new int[10];
      
      // Initialize elements of array n
      for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
         n[i] = i + 100;
      }
      
      // Output each array element's value using foreach
      foreach (int element in n) {
         Console.WriteLine("Element value = " + element);
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Element value = 100
Element value = 101
Element value = 102
Element value = 103
Element value = 104
Element value = 105
Element value = 106
Element value = 107
Element value = 108
Element value = 109

Accessing Both Index and Value

When you need both the index and value, you can combine foreach with Array.IndexOf() or use a counter variable −

Example

using System;

class Program {
   static void Main() {
      string[] fruits = {"Apple", "Banana", "Orange", "Mango"};
      int index = 0;
      
      foreach (string fruit in fruits) {
         Console.WriteLine("Index[{0}] = {1}", index, fruit);
         index++;
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Index[0] = Apple
Index[1] = Banana
Index[2] = Orange
Index[3] = Mango

foreach vs for Loop

Using foreach with Different Array Types

Example

using System;

class ArrayDemo {
   static void Main() {
      // Integer array
      int[] numbers = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
      Console.WriteLine("Integer array:");
      foreach (int num in numbers) {
         Console.Write(num + " ");
      }
      
      Console.WriteLine("<br>");
      
      // String array
      string[] names = {"John", "Alice", "Bob"};
      Console.WriteLine("String array:");
      foreach (string name in names) {
         Console.WriteLine("Hello, " + name);
      }
   }
}

The output of the above code is −

Integer array:
10 20 30 40 50 

String array:
Hello, John
Hello, Alice
Hello, Bob

Conclusion

The foreach statement in C# provides a clean and simple way to iterate through array elements without managing index variables. It's ideal for read-only operations where you need to process each element sequentially, making code more readable and less error-prone than traditional for loops.