Question

I have two dictionaries. When I change a value in dictionary 1, the same change appears in dictionary 2. How do I change a value only in dictionary 1, not in dictionary 2 as well?

   List<Dictionary<string, string>> ld1 = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();
   Dictionary<string, string> d1 = new Dictionary<string,string>();

   d1.Add("Text", "Value1");
   d1.Add("Format", "Value2");
   ld1.Add(d1);

   List<Dictionary<string, string>> ld2 = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>(ld1);
   // ld2 = ld1

   ld1[0]["Text"] = "Eulav";        // should: change only in the first dictionary
                                    // actually: changes in the second dictionary as well

   Console.WriteLine(ld1[0]["Text"]);
   Console.WriteLine(ld2[0]["Text"]);

Outputs

Eulav
Eulav

Answer 1

You only create a new list but the items in that list reference the same objects (dictionaries), so you need to create a copy of each item as well:

var ld2 = new List<Dictionary<string, string>>();

foreach (var dict in ld1)
{
    ld2.Add(new Dictionary<string, string>(dict));
}