C# / .NET equivalent for Java Collections.emptyList()?

Question

What\'s the standard way to get a typed, readonly empty list in C#, or is there one?

ETA: For those asking \"why?\": I have a virtual method that re

Answer 1

Personally, I think this is better than any of the other answers:

static readonly IList EmptyList = new T[0];

• Arrays implement IList.
• You cannot add to an array.
• You cannot assign to an element in an empty array (because there is none).
• This is, in my opinion, a lot simpler than new List().AsReadOnly().
• You still get to return an IList (if you want).

Incidentally, this is what Enumerable.Empty() actually uses under the hood, if I recall correctly. So theoretically you could even do (IList)Enumerable.Empty() (though I see no good reason to do that).