How to define value equality for a class or struct (C# Programming Guide)
Records automatically implement value equality. Consider defining a record instead of a class when your type models data and should implement value equality.
When you define a class or struct, you decide whether it makes sense to create a custom definition of value equality (or equivalence) for the type. Typically, you implement value equality when you expect to add objects of the type to a collection, or when their primary purpose is to store a set of fields or properties. You can base your definition of value equality on a comparison of all the fields and properties in the type, or you can base the definition on a subset.
In either case, and in both classes and structs, your implementation should follow the five guarantees of equivalence (for the following rules, assume that x, y and z are not null):
The reflexive property:
x.Equals(x)returnstrue.The symmetric property:
x.Equals(y)returns the same value asy.Equals(x).The transitive property: if
(x.Equals(y) && y.Equals(z))returnstrue, thenx.Equals(z)returnstrue.Successive invocations of
x.Equals(y)return the same value as long as the objects referenced by x and y aren't modified.Any non-null value isn't equal to null. However,
x.Equals(y)throws an exception whenxis null. That breaks rules 1 or 2, depending on the argument toEquals.
Any struct that you define already has a default implementation of value equality that it inherits from the System.ValueType override of the Object.Equals(Object) method. This implementation uses reflection to examine all the fields and properties in the type. Although this implementation produces correct results, it is relatively slow compared to a custom implementation that you write specifically for the type.
The implementation details for value equality are different for classes and structs. However, both classes and structs require the same basic steps for implementing equality:
Override the virtual Object.Equals(Object) method. In most cases, your implementation of
bool Equals( object obj )should just call into the type-specificEqualsmethod that is the implementation of the System.IEquatable<T> interface. (See step 2.)Implement the System.IEquatable<T> interface by providing a type-specific
Equalsmethod. This is where the actual equivalence comparison is performed. For example, you might decide to define equality by comparing only one or two fields in your type. Don't throw exceptions fromEquals. For classes that are related by inheritance:This method should examine only fields that are declared in the class. It should call
base.Equalsto examine fields that are in the base class. (Don't callbase.Equalsif the type inherits directly from Object, because the Object implementation of Object.Equals(Object) performs a reference equality check.)Two variables should be deemed equal only if the run-time types of the variables being compared are the same. Also, make sure that the
IEquatableimplementation of theEqualsmethod for the run-time type is used if the run-time and compile-time types of a variable are different. One strategy for making sure run-time types are always compared correctly is to implementIEquatableonly insealedclasses. For more information, see the class example later in this article.
Override Object.GetHashCode so that two objects that have value equality produce the same hash code.
Optional: To support definitions for "greater than" or "less than," implement the IComparable<T> interface for your type, and also overload the <= and >= operators.
Note
You can use records to get value equality semantics without any unnecessary boilerplate code.
Class example
The following example shows how to implement value equality in a class (reference type).
namespace ValueEqualityClass;
class TwoDPoint : IEquatable<TwoDPoint>
{
public int X { get; private set; }
public int Y { get; private set; }
public TwoDPoint(int x, int y)
{
if (x is (< 1 or > 2000) || y is (< 1 or > 2000))
{
throw new ArgumentException("Point must be in range 1 - 2000");
}
this.X = x;
this.Y = y;
}
public override bool Equals(object obj) => this.Equals(obj as TwoDPoint);
public bool Equals(TwoDPoint p)
{
if (p is null)
{
return false;
}
// Optimization for a common success case.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(this, p))
{
return true;
}
// If run-time types are not exactly the same, return false.
if (this.GetType() != p.GetType())
{
return false;
}
// Return true if the fields match.
// Note that the base class is not invoked because it is
// System.Object, which defines Equals as reference equality.
return (X == p.X) && (Y == p.Y);
}
public override int GetHashCode() => (X, Y).GetHashCode();
public static bool operator ==(TwoDPoint lhs, TwoDPoint rhs)
{
if (lhs is null)
{
if (rhs is null)
{
return true;
}
// Only the left side is null.
return false;
}
// Equals handles case of null on right side.
return lhs.Equals(rhs);
}
public static bool operator !=(TwoDPoint lhs, TwoDPoint rhs) => !(lhs == rhs);
}
// For the sake of simplicity, assume a ThreeDPoint IS a TwoDPoint.
class ThreeDPoint : TwoDPoint, IEquatable<ThreeDPoint>
{
public int Z { get; private set; }
public ThreeDPoint(int x, int y, int z)
: base(x, y)
{
if ((z < 1) || (z > 2000))
{
throw new ArgumentException("Point must be in range 1 - 2000");
}
this.Z = z;
}
public override bool Equals(object obj) => this.Equals(obj as ThreeDPoint);
public bool Equals(ThreeDPoint p)
{
if (p is null)
{
return false;
}
// Optimization for a common success case.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(this, p))
{
return true;
}
// Check properties that this class declares.
if (Z == p.Z)
{
// Let base class check its own fields
// and do the run-time type comparison.
return base.Equals((TwoDPoint)p);
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
public override int GetHashCode() => (X, Y, Z).GetHashCode();
public static bool operator ==(ThreeDPoint lhs, ThreeDPoint rhs)
{
if (lhs is null)
{
if (rhs is null)
{
// null == null = true.
return true;
}
// Only the left side is null.
return false;
}
// Equals handles the case of null on right side.
return lhs.Equals(rhs);
}
public static bool operator !=(ThreeDPoint lhs, ThreeDPoint rhs) => !(lhs == rhs);
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
ThreeDPoint pointA = new ThreeDPoint(3, 4, 5);
ThreeDPoint pointB = new ThreeDPoint(3, 4, 5);
ThreeDPoint pointC = null;
int i = 5;
Console.WriteLine("pointA.Equals(pointB) = {0}", pointA.Equals(pointB));
Console.WriteLine("pointA == pointB = {0}", pointA == pointB);
Console.WriteLine("null comparison = {0}", pointA.Equals(pointC));
Console.WriteLine("Compare to some other type = {0}", pointA.Equals(i));
TwoDPoint pointD = null;
TwoDPoint pointE = null;
Console.WriteLine("Two null TwoDPoints are equal: {0}", pointD == pointE);
pointE = new TwoDPoint(3, 4);
Console.WriteLine("(pointE == pointA) = {0}", pointE == pointA);
Console.WriteLine("(pointA == pointE) = {0}", pointA == pointE);
Console.WriteLine("(pointA != pointE) = {0}", pointA != pointE);
System.Collections.ArrayList list = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
list.Add(new ThreeDPoint(3, 4, 5));
Console.WriteLine("pointE.Equals(list[0]): {0}", pointE.Equals(list[0]));
// Keep the console window open in debug mode.
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
/* Output:
pointA.Equals(pointB) = True
pointA == pointB = True
null comparison = False
Compare to some other type = False
Two null TwoDPoints are equal: True
(pointE == pointA) = False
(pointA == pointE) = False
(pointA != pointE) = True
pointE.Equals(list[0]): False
*/
On classes (reference types), the default implementation of both Object.Equals(Object) methods performs a reference equality comparison, not a value equality check. When an implementer overrides the virtual method, the purpose is to give it value equality semantics.
The == and != operators can be used with classes even if the class does not overload them. However, the default behavior is to perform a reference equality check. In a class, if you overload the Equals method, you should overload the == and != operators, but it is not required.
Important
The preceding example code may not handle every inheritance scenario the way you expect. Consider the following code:
TwoDPoint p1 = new ThreeDPoint(1, 2, 3);
TwoDPoint p2 = new ThreeDPoint(1, 2, 4);
Console.WriteLine(p1.Equals(p2)); // output: True
This code reports that p1 equals p2 despite the difference in z values. The difference is ignored because the compiler picks the TwoDPoint implementation of IEquatable based on the compile-time type.
The built-in value equality of record types handles scenarios like this correctly. If TwoDPoint and ThreeDPoint were record types, the result of p1.Equals(p2) would be False. For more information, see Equality in record type inheritance hierarchies.
Struct example
The following example shows how to implement value equality in a struct (value type):
namespace ValueEqualityStruct
{
struct TwoDPoint : IEquatable<TwoDPoint>
{
public int X { get; private set; }
public int Y { get; private set; }
public TwoDPoint(int x, int y)
: this()
{
if (x is (< 1 or > 2000) || y is (< 1 or > 2000))
{
throw new ArgumentException("Point must be in range 1 - 2000");
}
X = x;
Y = y;
}
public override bool Equals(object? obj) => obj is TwoDPoint other && this.Equals(other);
public bool Equals(TwoDPoint p) => X == p.X && Y == p.Y;
public override int GetHashCode() => (X, Y).GetHashCode();
public static bool operator ==(TwoDPoint lhs, TwoDPoint rhs) => lhs.Equals(rhs);
public static bool operator !=(TwoDPoint lhs, TwoDPoint rhs) => !(lhs == rhs);
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
TwoDPoint pointA = new TwoDPoint(3, 4);
TwoDPoint pointB = new TwoDPoint(3, 4);
int i = 5;
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointA.Equals(pointB) = {0}", pointA.Equals(pointB));
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointA == pointB = {0}", pointA == pointB);
// True:
Console.WriteLine("object.Equals(pointA, pointB) = {0}", object.Equals(pointA, pointB));
// False:
Console.WriteLine("pointA.Equals(null) = {0}", pointA.Equals(null));
// False:
Console.WriteLine("(pointA == null) = {0}", pointA == null);
// True:
Console.WriteLine("(pointA != null) = {0}", pointA != null);
// False:
Console.WriteLine("pointA.Equals(i) = {0}", pointA.Equals(i));
// CS0019:
// Console.WriteLine("pointA == i = {0}", pointA == i);
// Compare unboxed to boxed.
System.Collections.ArrayList list = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
list.Add(new TwoDPoint(3, 4));
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointA.Equals(list[0]): {0}", pointA.Equals(list[0]));
// Compare nullable to nullable and to non-nullable.
TwoDPoint? pointC = null;
TwoDPoint? pointD = null;
// False:
Console.WriteLine("pointA == (pointC = null) = {0}", pointA == pointC);
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointC == pointD = {0}", pointC == pointD);
TwoDPoint temp = new TwoDPoint(3, 4);
pointC = temp;
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointA == (pointC = 3,4) = {0}", pointA == pointC);
pointD = temp;
// True:
Console.WriteLine("pointD == (pointC = 3,4) = {0}", pointD == pointC);
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.");
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
/* Output:
pointA.Equals(pointB) = True
pointA == pointB = True
Object.Equals(pointA, pointB) = True
pointA.Equals(null) = False
(pointA == null) = False
(pointA != null) = True
pointA.Equals(i) = False
pointE.Equals(list[0]): True
pointA == (pointC = null) = False
pointC == pointD = True
pointA == (pointC = 3,4) = True
pointD == (pointC = 3,4) = True
*/
}
For structs, the default implementation of Object.Equals(Object) (which is the overridden version in System.ValueType) performs a value equality check by using reflection to compare the values of every field in the type. When an implementer overrides the virtual Equals method in a struct, the purpose is to provide a more efficient means of performing the value equality check and optionally to base the comparison on some subset of the struct's fields or properties.
The == and != operators can't operate on a struct unless the struct explicitly overloads them.
See also
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