Tuple Class

Definition

generic 
public ref class Tuple : IComparable, System::Collections::IStructuralComparable, System::Collections::IStructuralEquatable

generic 
public ref class Tuple : IComparable, System::Collections::IStructuralComparable, System::Collections::IStructuralEquatable, System::Runtime::CompilerServices::ITuple

public class Tuple : IComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralEquatable

public class Tuple : IComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralEquatable, System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ITuple

[System.Serializable]
public class Tuple : IComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralComparable, System.Collections.IStructuralEquatable

type Tuple<'T1, 'T2, 'T3, 'T4, 'T5, 'T6, 'T7, 'Rest> = class
    interface IStructuralComparable
    interface IStructuralEquatable
    interface IComparable

type Tuple<'T1, 'T2, 'T3, 'T4, 'T5, 'T6, 'T7, 'Rest> = class
    interface IStructuralComparable
    interface IStructuralEquatable
    interface IComparable
    interface ITuple

[]
type Tuple<'T1, 'T2, 'T3, 'T4, 'T5, 'T6, 'T7, 'Rest> = class
    interface IStructuralEquatable
    interface IStructuralComparable
    interface IComparable

[]
type Tuple<'T1, 'T2, 'T3, 'T4, 'T5, 'T6, 'T7, 'Rest> = class
    interface IStructuralEquatable
    interface IStructuralComparable
    interface IComparable
    interface ITuple

Public Class Tuple(Of T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, TRest)
Implements IComparable, IStructuralComparable, IStructuralEquatable

Public Class Tuple(Of T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, TRest)
Implements IComparable, IStructuralComparable, IStructuralEquatable, ITuple

Type Parameters

Inheritance

Object

Tuple

Attributes

SerializableAttribute

Implements

IStructuralComparable IStructuralEquatable IComparable ITuple

Remarks

A tuple is a data structure that has a specific number and sequence of values. The Tuple class represents an n-tuple that has eight or more components.

You can instantiate a Tuple object with exactly eight components by calling the static Tuple.Create method. The following example creates an 8-tuple (octuple) that contains prime numbers that are less than 20. Note that it uses type inference to determine the type of each component.

var primes = Tuple.Create(2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19);
Console.WriteLine("Prime numbers less than 20: " + 
                  "{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}, and {7}",
                  primes.Item1, primes.Item2, primes.Item3, 
                  primes.Item4, primes.Item5, primes.Item6,
                  primes.Item7, primes.Rest.Item1);
// The example displays the following output:
//    Prime numbers less than 20: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19

open System

let primes = Tuple.Create(2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19)
printfn $"Prime numbers less than 20: {primes.Item1}, {primes.Item2}, {primes.Item3}, {primes.Item4}, {primes.Item5}, {primes.Item6}, {primes.Item7}, and {primes.Rest.Item1}"
//    Prime numbers less than 20: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19

Dim primes = Tuple.Create(2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19)
Console.WriteLine("Prime numbers less than 20: " + 
                  "{0}, {1}, {2}, {3}, {4}, {5}, {6}, and {7}",
                  primes.Item1, primes.Item2, primes.Item3, 
                  primes.Item4, primes.Item5, primes.Item6,
                  primes.Item7, primes.Rest.Item1)
' The example displays the following output:
'     Prime numbers less than 20: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, and 19

You can also instantiate an n-tuple object with eight or more components by calling the Tuple constructor. The following example uses the Tuple constructor to create an 8-tuple that is equivalent to the tuple created in the previous example.

var primes = new Tuple> (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, new Tuple(19));

let primes = new Tuple> (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, new Tuple(19))

Dim primes = New Tuple(Of Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, Int32, _ 
             Tuple(Of Int32))(2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, New Tuple(Of Int32)(19))

To instantiate an n-tuple that has eight or more components with the Tuple constructor, you supply a generic Tuple object as the rest parameter to define the eighth through nth components of the tuple. By nesting generic Tuple objects in this way, you can create a tuple that has no practical limitation on the number of its components.

The following example creates a 17-tuple that contains population data for the city of Detroit, Michigan, for each national census from 1860 to 2000. The first component of the tuple is the city name. The second component is the start date of the data series, and the third component is the population at the start date. Each subsequent component provides the population at decade intervals. The 17-tuple is created by nesting a Tuple object inside a Tuple object. (That is, the Tuple object is supplied as the value of the rest parameter in the Tuple class constructor.) This Tuple object is, in turn, nested in an outer Tuple object. (That is, the Tuple object is supplied as the value of the rest parameter in the outer Tuple object's class constructor.)

var from1980 = Tuple.Create(1203339, 1027974, 951270);
var from1910 = new Tuple> 
    (465766, 993078, 1568622, 1623452, 1849568, 1670144, 1511462, from1980);
var population = new Tuple>> 
    ("Detroit", 1860, 45619, 79577, 116340, 205876, 285704, from1910);

let from1980 = Tuple.Create(1203339, 1027974, 951270)
let from1910 = new Tuple>(465766, 993078, 1568622, 1623452, 1849568, 1670144, 1511462, from1980)
let population = new Tuple>>("Detroit", 1860, 45619, 79577, 116340, 205876, 285704, from1910)

Dim from1980 = Tuple.Create(1203339, 1027974, 951270)
Dim from1910 As New Tuple(Of Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, _
    Tuple(Of Integer, Integer, Integer)) _
    (465766, 993078, 1568622, 1623452, 1849568, 1670144, 1511462, from1980)
Dim population As New Tuple(Of String, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, _ 
    Tuple(Of Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Integer, Tuple(Of Integer, Integer, Integer))) _
    ("Detroit", 1860, 45619, 79577, 116340, 205876, 285704, from1910)

You can retrieve the value of the tuple's first seven components by using the read-only Item1, Item2, Item3, Item4, Item5, Item6, and Item7 instance properties. Any additional components are nested and can be retrieved from the Rest property. In the previous example, the Item1 through Item7 properties retrieve the first through seventh components of the tuple. The eighth through fourteenth components are contained in the tuple that is nested at the second level, and are represented by the Rest.Item1 through Rest.Item7 properties. The fifteenth through seventeenth components are contained in the tuple that is nested at the third level, and are represented by the Rest.Rest.Item1 though Rest.Rest.Item3 properties.

Tuples are commonly used in four different ways:

• To represent a single set of data. For example, a tuple can represent a database record, and its components can represent individual fields of the record.

• To provide easy access to, and manipulation of, a data set.

• To return multiple values from a method without the use of out parameters (in C#) or ByRef parameters (in Visual Basic). For example, the previous example returns its computed statistics, along with the city name, in a Tuple object.

• To pass multiple values to a method through a single parameter. For example, the Thread.Start(Object) method has a single parameter that lets you supply one value to the method that the thread executes at startup. If you supply a Tuple object as the method argument, you can supply the thread's startup routine with seven items of data.

See also

• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple
• Tuple