Cloning queue in c#

Question

I have the following code:

Queue<string> oldQueue = new Queue<string>();

oldQueue.Enqueue("One");
oldQueue.Enqueue("Two");
oldQueue.Enqueue("Three");

Queue newQueue = oldQueue;
string newString = newQueue.Dequeue();

The problem is that once I Dequeue the item from newQueue, the item is also Dequeued from oldQueue. Is there a way to "clone" a queue in a way that removing an item from one queue will keep it's clone queue unchanged?

Solution 1

Queue is a reference type, so newQueue and oldQueue holds a pointer to the same object. They are the same ;-)

See this answer about how to do a "deep cloning" using reflection:

Deep Copy using Reflection in an Extension Method for Silverlight?

Solution 2

You have to make a deeper copy:

   //Queue newQueue = oldQueue;
   Queue<string> newQueue = new Queue<string>(oldQueue);

Comments

[rollsch]

It will still hold a pointer to the same object in most cases so its not really a clone. You need to clone the objects it points to as well.

[Henk Holterman]

@rolls - for (immutable and internable) strings that would make no sense at all. For other data it would very much depend.

[rollsch]

Sorry I didn't realise the question was specifically about strings and thought it was asking generally .