C#: How do i assign many variables with an integer(i) in for loop?

Hello,

Imagine we have 5 string variables and we want to assign "Foo" to them during runtime.

Instead of this

string a1 = "Foo";
string a2 = "Foo";
string a3 = "Foo";
string a4 = "Foo";
string a5 = "Foo";

Can't we use something like this:

for(int i = 0;i < 5;i++)
{
    a+i = "Foo";
}

Is it impossible to access them in a similiar way?

From stackoverflow

• You can access controls by name, but it would be a lot cleaner to add an array of label items to your page then access the array using the integer.

• You can create an array or array list of labels, and put your label into them. Then you can do something similar to this.

  John : Could you provide an example,Its not about labels,but variables(int a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6...)?

• You can by iterating through the label's parent's controls:

  for (int i=0; i<= parent.controls.count(); i++)
  {
      if (parent.controls("label" + i)  != null)
      {
           ...
      }
  }
  

  HTH

  EDIT:

  After your edit, the only way I could see of doing it would be to add them to a list/array/dictionary and iterate through that, although the principle is the same.

  John : I edited my question,labels were just an example.The problem are variables.How to do this with variables(a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,a7....)?

• Label[] labels = new Label[] { label1, label2, label3, label4, label5 };
  
  for (int i = 0; i < labels.Length; i++)
  {
      labels[i].Text = "Foo";
  }
  

• If all of the labels have the same parent, and that parent has no other label controls contained within you could do the following:

  foreach (Control lbl in ParentControl)
  {
      if (lbl is TextBox)
      {
          ((Label)lbl).Text = "Foo";
      }
  }
  

• As others have said, an array (or another collection) is a much better way of doing this.

  Think of an array as just being a collection of variables which you always access by index.

  I can't think of any reason why you'd want to have a set of variables as shown in your question. If you absolutely have to do that, and they're instance/static variables, you could use reflection to access them if you really wanted to - but using an array or other collection would be much, much better.

  John : Thanks Jon! I will buy your book again if you provide an example.I tried to put them in a ,but I'm new to Generics :)

  John : I solved it,thanks!

• Assuming we're talking about webforms here, there's a FindControl() method you can use.

  private void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs MyEventArgs)
  {
    // Find control on page.
    TextBox myControl1 = (TextBox) FindControl("Label1");
    if(myControl1!=null)
    {
       string message = myControl1.Text;
    }
  }