Question

I have the following code:

string[] firstArray = { "bla bla", "bla bla", "bla bla"};   
string[] secondArray = {"aaaaaaaaaaaa", "aaaaaaaaaaa", "aaaaaaaaa"};    

string[] newArray = firstArray;

firstArray = secondArray;

foreach (string item in newArray)
{
     Console.WriteLine(item);
} 

This code gives the following results:
bla bla
bla bla
bla bla

I can’t understand why the newArray has the same conntent after I assign a different instance to the firstArray. Please help me.

Answer 1

You’re assigning references to arrays, not the arrays themselves.

string[] firstArray = { "bla bla", "bla bla", "bla bla"};   

firstArray has a reference to the blabla array.

string[] secondArray = {"aaaaaaaaaaaa", "aaaaaaaaaaa", "aaaaaaaaa"};    

secondArray has a reference to the aaaaaaaaaaaa array.

string[] newArray = array;

I guess there was a array = firstArray somewhere. newArray holds a reference to the same array as firstArray (blabla).

array = secondArray;

array holds a reference to the same array as secondArray (aaaaaaaaaaaa).

foreach (string item in newArray)

newArray still holds a reference to the blabla array, so that prints.