Edit

Share via


Dictionary<TKey,TValue>.IDictionary.Contains(Object) Method

Definition

Determines whether the IDictionary contains an element with the specified key.

bool IDictionary.Contains (object key);

Parameters

key
Object

The key to locate in the IDictionary.

Returns

true if the IDictionary contains an element with the specified key; otherwise, false.

Implements

Exceptions

key is null.

Examples

The following code example shows how to use the IDictionary.Contains method of the System.Collections.IDictionary interface with a Dictionary<TKey,TValue>. The example demonstrates that the method returns false if a key of the wrong data type is supplied.

The code example is part of a larger example, including output, provided for the IDictionary.Add method.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a new dictionary of strings, with string keys,
        // and access it using the IDictionary interface.
        //
        IDictionary openWith = new Dictionary<string, string>();

        // Add some elements to the dictionary. There are no
        // duplicate keys, but some of the values are duplicates.
        // IDictionary.Add throws an exception if incorrect types
        // are supplied for key or value.
        openWith.Add("txt", "notepad.exe");
        openWith.Add("bmp", "paint.exe");
        openWith.Add("dib", "paint.exe");
        openWith.Add("rtf", "wordpad.exe");
// Contains can be used to test keys before inserting
// them.
if (!openWith.Contains("ht"))
{
    openWith.Add("ht", "hypertrm.exe");
    Console.WriteLine("Value added for key = \"ht\": {0}",
        openWith["ht"]);
}

// IDictionary.Contains returns false if the wrong data
// type is supplied.
Console.WriteLine("openWith.Contains(29.7) returns {0}",
    openWith.Contains(29.7));
    }
}

Remarks

This method returns false if key is of a type that is not assignable to the key type TKey of the Dictionary<TKey,TValue>.

This method approaches an O(1) operation.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP 10.0