List<T>.RemoveAll(Predicate<T>) Method

Definition

Removes all the elements that match the conditions defined by the specified predicate.

public int RemoveAll (Predicate<T> match);

Parameters

match
Predicate<T>

The Predicate<T> delegate that defines the conditions of the elements to remove.

Returns

The number of elements removed from the List<T>.

Exceptions

match is null.

Examples

The following example demonstrates the RemoveAll method and several other methods that use the Predicate<T> generic delegate.

A List<T> of strings is created, containing 8 dinosaur names, two of which (at positions 1 and 5) end with "saurus". The example also defines a search predicate method named EndsWithSaurus, which accepts a string parameter and returns a Boolean value indicating whether the input string ends in "saurus".

The Find, FindLast, and FindAll methods are used to search the list with the search predicate method.

The RemoveAll method is used to remove all entries ending with "saurus". It traverses the list from the beginning, passing each element in turn to the EndsWithSaurus method. The element is removed if the EndsWithSaurus method returns true.

Note

In C# and Visual Basic, it is not necessary to create the Predicate<string> delegate (Predicate(Of String) in Visual Basic) explicitly. These languages infer the correct delegate from context, and create it automatically.

Finally, the Exists method verifies that there are no strings in the list that end with "saurus".

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        List<string> dinosaurs = new List<string>();

        dinosaurs.Add("Compsognathus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Amargasaurus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Oviraptor");
        dinosaurs.Add("Velociraptor");
        dinosaurs.Add("Deinonychus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Dilophosaurus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Gallimimus");
        dinosaurs.Add("Triceratops");

        Console.WriteLine();
        foreach(string dinosaur in dinosaurs)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("\nTrueForAll(EndsWithSaurus): {0}",
            dinosaurs.TrueForAll(EndsWithSaurus));

        Console.WriteLine("\nFind(EndsWithSaurus): {0}",
            dinosaurs.Find(EndsWithSaurus));

        Console.WriteLine("\nFindLast(EndsWithSaurus): {0}",
            dinosaurs.FindLast(EndsWithSaurus));

        Console.WriteLine("\nFindAll(EndsWithSaurus):");
        List<string> sublist = dinosaurs.FindAll(EndsWithSaurus);

        foreach(string dinosaur in sublist)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur);
        }

        Console.WriteLine(
            "\n{0} elements removed by RemoveAll(EndsWithSaurus).",
            dinosaurs.RemoveAll(EndsWithSaurus));

        Console.WriteLine("\nList now contains:");
        foreach(string dinosaur in dinosaurs)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(dinosaur);
        }

        Console.WriteLine("\nExists(EndsWithSaurus): {0}",
            dinosaurs.Exists(EndsWithSaurus));
    }

    // Search predicate returns true if a string ends in "saurus".
    private static bool EndsWithSaurus(String s)
    {
        return s.ToLower().EndsWith("saurus");
    }
}

/* This code example produces the following output:

Compsognathus
Amargasaurus
Oviraptor
Velociraptor
Deinonychus
Dilophosaurus
Gallimimus
Triceratops

TrueForAll(EndsWithSaurus): False

Find(EndsWithSaurus): Amargasaurus

FindLast(EndsWithSaurus): Dilophosaurus

FindAll(EndsWithSaurus):
Amargasaurus
Dilophosaurus

2 elements removed by RemoveAll(EndsWithSaurus).

List now contains:
Compsognathus
Oviraptor
Velociraptor
Deinonychus
Gallimimus
Triceratops

Exists(EndsWithSaurus): False
 */

Remarks

The Predicate<T> is a delegate to a method that returns true if the object passed to it matches the conditions defined in the delegate. The elements of the current List<T> are individually passed to the Predicate<T> delegate, and the elements that match the conditions are removed from the List<T>.

This method performs a linear search; therefore, this method is an O(n) operation, where n is Count.

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

See also