Most elegant way to convert string array into a dictionary of strings

Question

Is there a built-in function for converting a string array into a dictionary of strings or do you need to do a loop here?

Answer 1

IMO, When we say an Array we are talking about a list of values that we can get a value with calling its index (value => array[index]), So a correct dictionary is a dictionary with a key of index.

And with thanks to @John Skeet, the proper way to achieve that is:

var dictionary = array
    .Select((v, i) => new {Key = i, Value = v})
    .ToDictionary(o => o.Key, o => o.Value);

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Another way is to use an extension method like this:

public static Dictionary ToDictionary(this IEnumerable array)
{
    return array
        .Select((v, i) => new {Key = i, Value = v})
        .ToDictionary(o => o.Key, o => o.Value);
}