C# foreach Statement with Examples

How to Use the foreach Statement in C#

This tutorial describes how to use the foreach statement with examples in C#.

The foreach statement executes a block of code for each element of a given collection, such as a list, dictionary, or array.

Related C# tutorials:

• A for loop statement in C#
• A while loop statement in C#

The foreach Syntax

The syntax of the foreach statement is as follows:

foreach (element in collection)
{
    //block of code
}

Examples

Example 1

You can use the foreach statement to loop through a block of code for each number in a list, as the following code shows:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
namespace ForeachExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            List<int> numbers = new List<int>
            {
                1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
            };
            foreach (int number in numbers)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(number);
            }
        }
    }
}

Output:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Example 2

The following example shows how to execute a block of code for each number in an array:

using System;
 
namespace ForeachExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            int[] numbers = new int[]
            {
                1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
            };
            foreach (int number in numbers)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(number);
            }
        }
    }
}
 

Output:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Example 3

The following code executes a block of code for each student in a list and prints it out to the console

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
namespace ForeachLoopExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            List<string> students = new List<string>
            {
                "Student A", "Student B", "Student C", "Student C", "Student D", "Student E"
            };
            foreach (string student in students)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(student);
            }
        }
    }
}
 

Output:

Student A
Student B
Student C
Student C
Student D
Student E

Example 4

The following example shows how to loop over a dictionary using the foreach statement:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
 
namespace ForeachLoopExample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Dictionary<int, string> dict = new Dictionary<int, string>
            {
                {1, "A" }, {2, "B" }, {3, "C" }, {4, "D" }, {5, "E" }, {6, "F" },
            };
            //
            foreach (KeyValuePair<int, string> d in dict)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Key:" + d.Key + " " + "Value: " + d.Value);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++");
            //
            foreach (int key in dict.Keys)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Key:" + key);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++");
            //
            foreach (string value in dict.Values)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Value:" + value);
            }
            Console.WriteLine("++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++");
 
        }
    }
}
 

Output:

Key:1 Value: A
Key:2 Value: B
Key:3 Value: C
Key:4 Value: D
Key:5 Value: E
Key:6 Value: F
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Key:1
Key:2
Key:3
Key:4
Key:5
Key:6
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Value:A
Value:B
Value:C
Value:D
Value:E
Value:F
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

More tutorials:

• if and else statements in C#
• switch and case statements in C#

In this tutorial, you've learned how to use the foreach statement. The foreach statement allows you to loop through a block of code for each element in a list, array, or dictionary.