C# - Queue

Queue is a special type of collection that stores the elements in FIFO style (First In First Out), exactly opposite of the Stack<T> collection. It contains the elements in the order they were added. C# includes generic Queue<T> and non-generic Queue collection. It is recommended to use the generic Queue<T> collection.

Queue<T> Characteristics

Queue<T> is FIFO (First In First Out) collection.
It comes under System.Collection.Generic namespace.
Queue<T> can contain elements of the specified type. It provides compile-time type checking and doesn't perform boxing-unboxing because it is generic.
Elements can be added using the Enqueue() method. Cannot use collection-initializer syntax.
Elements can be retrieved using the Dequeue() and the Peek() methods. It does not support an indexer.

The following figure illustrates the Queue collection:

Creating a Queue

You can create an object of the Queue<T> by specifying a type parameter for the type of elements it can store. The following example creates and adds elements in the Queue<T> using the Enqueue() method. A Queue collection allows null (for reference types) and duplicate values.

Example: Create and Add Elements in the Queue

Queue<int> callerIds = new Queue<int>();
callerIds.Enqueue(1);
callerIds.Enqueue(2);
callerIds.Enqueue(3);
callerIds.Enqueue(4);

foreach(var id in callerIds)
    Console.Write(id); //prints 1234

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Queue<T> Properties and Methods

Property	Usage
Count	Returns the total count of elements in the Queue.

Method	Usage
Enqueue(T)	Adds an item into the queue.
Dequeue	Returns an item from the beginning of the queue and removes it from the queue.
Peek()	Returns an first item from the queue without removing it.
Contains(T)	Checks whether an item is in the queue or not
Clear()	Removes all the items from the queue.

Retrieve Elements from a Queue

The Dequeue() and the Peek() method is used to retrieve the first element in a queue collection. The Dequeue() removes and returns the first element from a queue because the queue stores elements in FIFO order. Calling the Dequeue() method on an empty queue will throw the InvalidOperation exception. So, always check that the total count of a queue is greater than zero before calling it.

Example: Reading Queue

Queue<string> strQ = new Queue<string>();
strQ.Enqueue("H");
strQ.Enqueue("e");
strQ.Enqueue("l");
strQ.Enqueue("l");
strQ.Enqueue("o");

Console.WriteLine("Total elements: {0}", strQ.Count); //prints 5

while (strQ.Count > 0)
    Console.WriteLine(strQ.Dequeue()); //prints Hello

Console.WriteLine("Total elements: {0}", strQ.Count); //prints 0

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The Peek() method always returns the first item from a queue collection without removing it from the queue. Calling the Peek() method on an empty queue will throw a run-time exception InvalidOperationException.

Example: Peek()

Queue<string> strQ = new Queue<string>();
strQ.Enqueue("H");
strQ.Enqueue("e");
strQ.Enqueue("l");
strQ.Enqueue("l");
strQ.Enqueue("o");

Console.WriteLine("Total elements: {0}", strQ.Count); //prints 5

if(strQ.Count > 0){
    Console.WriteLine(strQ.Peek()); //prints H
    Console.WriteLine(strQ.Peek()); //prints H
}

Console.WriteLine("Total elements: {0}", strQ.Count); //prints 5

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Contains()

The Contains() method checks whether an item exists in a queue or not. It returns true if the specified item exists, otherwise returns false.

Contains() Signature: bool Contains(object obj);

Example: Contains()

Queue<int> callerIds = new Queue<int>();
callerIds.Enqueue(1);
callerIds.Enqueue(2);
callerIds.Enqueue(3);
callerIds.Enqueue(4);

callerIds.Contains(2); //true
callerIds.Contains(10); //false

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