Array member reference and garbage collection

Question

If a member of an array is kept being referenced, the whole array will not be garbage collected?

for example, a method:

    void ParseUtility(string strInput, out string header)
    {
        header = "";

        string[] parsed = strInput.Split(',');
        if ((parsed != null) && (parsed.Length > 0))
        {
            header = parsed[0];
        }
        return;
    }

when returning from this method, the whole string array 'parsed' will be kept as long as 'header' is being used?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 05 '15 at 05:26

3

That is not the case. string is a class, so any string instance has an independent existence - each element of the array simply refers to a string, and header = parsed[0] retains a reference to the string, not to the array. Whether the array may be GC'ed depends solely on whether the array itself is reachable.

answered Nov 05 '15 at 05:26

Aasmund Eldhuset

37,289
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which means, .net framework always maintains objects by the smallest reference units? - for List, HashSet etc, the framework gets its independent collections of List or HashSet's child members? – Chengting Nov 05 '15 at 06:31
Yes; even if you have a tiny class whose only member is a single `bool`, instances of that class are individually tracked and GC'ed. – Aasmund Eldhuset Nov 05 '15 at 15:51

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 05 '15 at 05:30

2

Should not. parsed has a reference to parsed[0] not the other way around.

answered Nov 05 '15 at 05:30

Shinva

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Array member reference and garbage collection

2 Answers2