Return a string array from a function without initialising it first

Question

Public Function Foo() as String()
Dim bar As String = {"bar1","bar2","bar3"}

Return bar
End Function

My situation is similar to the code sample above where I'm returning a string array from a function.

What I would like to do is just return the string array without having to declare a variable first and then return the variable.

Something like this, although this obviously doesn't work:

Return {"bar1","bar2","bar3"}

Is it possible to do this, I can't seem to find a method that works?

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-10 10:26:49Z

15

You could do this:

Public Function Foo() As String()
    Return New String() {"bar1", "bar2", "bar3"}
End Function

answered Dec 10, 2009 at 10:26

Darin Dimitrov

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Comments

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-10 10:28:20Z

3

You do not have to declare a variable (as the example from Darin), but you do have to create an instance of the type you want (a string array).

His example works because he is "newing up" a string array.

answered Dec 10, 2009 at 10:28

Oded

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3 Comments

Richard Lucas Over a year ago

I'm slightly confused by your comment "His example works because he is "newing up" a string array." Darin's suggestion seems to work fine, but is this bad practice perhaps?

Oded Over a year ago

He is returning a NEW string array. Not saying this is bad code, but is explains why your example deosn't work.

AdaTheDev Over a year ago

@Richard: He just means that you always have to have a string array instance to return and there's 2 ways of doing it - define a new string array variable, populate that variable and return that (like you're currently doing)....or do it inline like Darin showed, which is just a shortcut as you're returning the new string array directly instead of first assigning it into a variable

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