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How can I loop over all items in a dictionary which satisfy some condition? C#

I'm currently working on a project where I have to loop over a dictionary. I only want to loop over the keys in this dictionary which contain a substring of a. So for a dictionary (key, value) I only want to loop through the pairs in this dictionary for which the key contains A.
How would I do this?

How would I do this?
Dictionaries only offer O(1) (fast) access when checking for equality. There's not a way to "select" keys that contain a value without looping:
foreach(var entry in myDictionary)
{
if(entry.Key.Contains("A"))
// do something with entry.Value
}
You could use the Where method from Linq but it doesn't offer any performance improvement (it still loops internally):
foreach(var entry in myDictionary.Where(e => e.Key.Contains("A"))
{
// do something with entry.Value
}

Lots of ways. Here is one example (not tested).
var keys = dictionary.Keys.Where(k => k.Contains(a));
foreach (var matchingKey in keys)
{
var value = dictionary[matchingKey];
// Do something
}

c# Dictionary<string,string> how to loop through items without knowing key [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How to iterate over a dictionary?
(29 answers)
Closed 8 years ago.
I have a:
var selectedDates = new Dictionary<string, string>();
selectedDates.Add("2014-06-21", DateTime.Now.ToLongDateString());
selectedDates.Add("2014-07-21", DateTime.Now.AddDays(5).ToLongDateString());
selectedDates.Add("2014-08-21", DateTime.Now.AddDays(9).ToLongDateString());
selectedDates.Add("2014-09-21", DateTime.Now.AddDays(14).ToLongDateString());
How can I loop trough items without knowing the key?
For example I want to get the value of the item[0]
If I do:
var item = selectedDates[0].value; // I get an error

How can I loop trough items without knowing the key?
For example I want to get the value of the item[0]
You want to treat the dictionary as (ordered) collection similar to a list or array and get the first item in it?
You can because a Dictionary<string, string> is an IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>> implicitly. Just use First or FirstOrDefault:
string valueAtFirstPosition = selectedDates.First().Value;
However, note that a dictionary is not meant to be used as as an ordered collection. It is a collection which can be used to fast-lookup a value by a key. But you can enumerate it anyway.
foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string>keyVal in selectedDates)
{
Console.WriteLine("Key: {0} Value: {1}", keyVal.Key, keyVal.Value);
}
You should simply not rely on that order. I think in the current implementation the order is stable as long as you don't delete items. Read
Read: Why is a Dictionary “not ordered”?

try this
foreach (string key in selectedDates.Keys)
{
var item = selectedDates[key];
}

It's simple, loop trough it with a foreach or to get a specific index do:
var date = selectedDates.ElementAt(0).Value;

Let me put together two things for you. Firstly, you can loop or use LINQ to access elements, just as you could do it in a list as well:
var dict = new Dictionary<string, string>();
// loop
foreach (var item in dict)
{
var key = item.Key;
var value = item.Value;
}
// "first" (see below)
var firstItem = dict.First();
However, be aware that what you're referring to as the first item can be pretty much any item in the Dictionary. Dictionaries store elements in any order that is convenient for a lookup (so do sets).
This order is known for some implementations, but lists or arrays might fit better when the order of the elements is important. A Dictionary in .NET is an implementation of a hash table data structure (tree map is another map implementation).

try this :
foreach(var key in selectedDates.Keys)
{
var value = selectedDates[key];
}

Use this overload of Where:
var result = selectedDates.Where((d,i)=>i==0);

Try:
foreach (var date in selectedDates)
{
var item = date.Value;
}

Dictionary<string, List<int>> copy to another Dictionary

I have a problem with copying the values ​​of the numbers into another dictionary.
Everything goes well, but as soon as I add values ​​from a List to another dictionary if the key already exists. I do not understand how it is possible that the same values ​​are added to the dictionary as well as going through.
foreach (KeyValuePair<string, List<int>> record in dictonaryUnStem)
{
arrayWord = record.Key.ToCharArray();
st.add(arrayWord);
stemWord = st.stem();
if (!dictonaryStem.ContainsKey(stemWord))
{
dictonaryStem.Add(stemWord, record.Value);
}
else
{
foreach (int i in record.Value)
{
dictonaryStem[stemWord].Add(i);
}
}
}
When you add to another dictionary from the given key integers. We join me on the record, too integers dictionaryUnStem. It is a complete illogical.
stemWord = st.stem()
gives me root word which is the key word in the first dictionary. In the list are stored position of that words in the text.

The problem is here:
dictonaryStem.Add(stemWord, record.Value);
You are setting the dictionary value to the reference of the original list (List<T> is a reference type) - hence when you add an item to that list, it also shows up in the dictionary - both reference the same list.
Instead you can just force creation of a new list for your dictionary:
dictonaryStem.Add(stemWord, record.Value.ToList());

Loop in Dictionary

I use this:
foreach(KeyValuePair<String,String> entry in MyDic)
{
// do something with entry.Value or entry.Key
}
The problem is that I can't change the value of entry.Value or entry.Key
My question is that how can i change the value or key when looping through a dictionary?
And, does dictionary allow duplicated key? And if yes, how can we avoid ?
Thank you

You cannot change the value of a dictionary entry while looping through the items in the dictionary, although you can modify a property on the value if it's an instance of a reference type.
For example,
public class MyClass
{
public int SomeNumber { get; set;}
}
foreach(KeyValuePair<string, MyClass> entry in myDict)
{
entry.Value.SomeNumber = 3; // is okay
myDict[entry.Key] = new MyClass(); // is not okay
}
Trying to modify a dictionary (or any collection) while looping through its elements will result in an InvalidOperationException saying the collection was modified.
To answer your specific questions,
My question is that how can i change the value or key when looping through a dictionary?
The approach to both will be pretty much the same. You can either loop over a copy of the dictionary as Anthony Pengram said in his answer, or you can loop once through all the items to figure out which ones you need to modify and then loop again through a list of those items:
List<string> keysToChange = new List<string>();
foreach(KeyValuePair<string, string> entry in myDict)
{
if(...) // some check to see if it's an item you want to act on
{
keysToChange.Add(entry.Key);
}
}
foreach(string key in keysToChange)
{
myDict[key] = "new value";
// or "rename" a key
myDict["new key"] = myDict[key];
myDict.Remove(key);
}
And, does dictionary allow duplicated key? And if yes, how can we avoid ?
A dictionary does not allow duplicate keys. If you want a collection of <string, string> pairs that does, check out NameValueCollection.

Updating the dictionary in the loop is going to be a problem, as you cannot modify the dictionary as it is being enumerated. However, you can work around this pretty easily by converting the dictionary to a list of KeyValuePair<> objects. You enumerate that list, and then you can modify the dictionary.
foreach (var pair in dictionary.ToList())
{
// to update the value
dictionary[pair.Key] = "Some New Value";
// or to change the key => remove it and add something new
dictionary.Remove(pair.Key);
dictionary.Add("Some New Key", pair.Value);
}
For the second part, the key in a dictionary must be unique.

KeyValuePair's Key and value are read only. But you can change a value like that:
dictionary[key].Value = newValue;
But if you want to change the key, you will have to remove/add a key.
And no, a Dictionary does not allow duplicate keys, it will throw an ArgumentException.

You cannot modify keys while enumerating them.
One method I use for changes to the collection while enumerating them is that I do break; out of the foreach loop when a match is found and item is modified, and am restarting the whole enumeration all over again. That's one way of handling it...
No, Dictionary can't have duplicate keys. If you want something that will sort by key and allow duplicates, you should use some other data structure.

You can do this like
for (int i = 0; i < MyDic.Count; i++)
{
KeyValuePair<string, string> s = MyDic.ElementAt(i);
MyDic.Remove(s.Key);
MyDic.Add(s.Key, "NewValue");
}
And Dictionary doesn't allow duplicates

Get index of a key/value pair in a C# dictionary based on the value

I would like to know if some property or method exists that gets the index of a specific value.
I found that dictionaries have the Contains() method which returns true if the value passed in exists, so this method almost implements what I need.
I know that I can loop through all the value pairs and check the condition, but I ask because maybe there's an optimized way of doing this.

Let's say you have a Dictionary called fooDictionary
fooDictionary.Values.ToList().IndexOf(someValue);
Values.ToList()
converts your dictionary values into a List of someValue objects.
IndexOf(someValue)
searches your new List looking for the someValue object in question
and returns the Index which would match the index of the Key/Value pair in the dictionary.
This method does not care about the dictionary keys, it simply returns the index of the value that you are looking for.
This does not however account for the issue that there may be several matching "someValue" objects.

There's no such concept of an "index" within a dictionary - it's fundamentally unordered. Of course when you iterate over it you'll get the items in some order, but that order isn't guaranteed and can change over time (particularly if you add or remove entries).
Obviously you can get the key from a KeyValuePair just by using the Key property, so that will let you use the indexer of the dictionary:
var pair = ...;
var value = dictionary[pair.Key];
Assert.AreEqual(value, pair.Value);
You haven't really said what you're trying to do. If you're trying to find some key which corresponds to a particular value, you could use:
var key = dictionary.Where(pair => pair.Value == desiredValue)
.Select(pair => pair.Key)
.FirstOrDefault();
key will be null if the entry doesn't exist.
This is assuming that the key type is a reference type... if it's a value type you'll need to do things slightly differently.
Of course, if you really want to look up values by key, you should consider using another dictionary which maps the other way round in addition to your existing dictionary.

Consider using System.Collections.Specialized.OrderedDictionary, though it is not generic, or implement your own (example).
OrderedDictionary does not support IndexOf, but it's easy to implement:
public static class OrderedDictionaryExtensions
{
public static int IndexOf(this OrderedDictionary dictionary, object value)
{
for(int i = 0; i < dictionary.Count; ++i)
{
if(dictionary[i] == value) return i;
}
return -1;
}
}

You can find index by key/values in dictionary
Dictionary<string, string> myDictionary = new Dictionary<string, string>();
myDictionary.Add("a", "x");
myDictionary.Add("b", "y");
int i = Array.IndexOf(myDictionary.Keys.ToArray(), "a");
int j = Array.IndexOf(myDictionary.Values.ToArray(), "y");

You can use LINQ to help you with this.
Dictionary<int, string> dict = new Dictionary<int, string>();
dict.Add(1, "hi");
dict.Add(2, "NotHi");
dict.Add(3, "Bah");
var item = (from d in dict
where d.Value == "hi"
select d.Key).FirstOrDefault();
Console.WriteLine(item); //Prints 1

If searching for a value, you will have to loop through all the data. But to minimize code involved, you can use LINQ.
Example:
Given Dictionary defined as following:
Dictionary<Int32, String> dict;
You can use following code :
// Search for all keys with given value
Int32[] keys = dict.Where(kvp => kvp.Value.Equals("SomeValue")).Select(kvp => kvp.Key).ToArray();
// Search for first key with given value
Int32 key = dict.First(kvp => kvp.Value.Equals("SomeValue")).Key;

In your comment to max's answer, you say that what you really wanted to get is the key in, and not the index of, the KeyValuePair that contains a certain value. You could edit your question to make it more clear.
It is worth pointing out (EricM has touched upon this in his answer) that a value might appear more than once in the dictionary, in which case one would have to think which key he would like to get: e.g. the first that comes up, the last, all of them?
If you are sure that each key has a unique value, you could have another dictionary, with the values from the first acting as keys and the previous keys acting as values. Otherwise, this second dictionary idea (suggested by Jon Skeet) will not work, as you would again have to think which of all the possible keys to use as value in the new dictionary.
If you were asking about the index, though, EricM's answer would be OK. Then you could get the KeyValuePair in question by using:
yourDictionary.ElementAt(theIndexYouFound);
provided that you do not add/remove things in yourDictionary.
PS: I know it's been almost 7 years now, but what the heck. I thought it best to formulate my answer as addressing the OP, but of course by now one can say it is an answer for just about anyone else but the OP. Fully aware of that, thank you.

no , there is nothing similar IndexOf for Dictionary although you can make use of ContainsKey method to get whether a key belongs to dictionary or not