Is there a reason to initialize a string in C#?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What is the difference between String.Empty and “”
In C#, should I use string.Empty or String.Empty or “”?
Default string initialization: NULL or Empty?

I would like to know if there is a interest to initialize a string?

String value1 = String.Empty;

EDIT : My question is more Why should I initialize strings than choosing between "" or string.Empty

@SLaks, this didn't prevent 3 people from upvoting you before your answer was deleted ;) — Thomas Levesque, Dec 13 '11 at 16:58
Is the question about which approach is better, or whether or not you should initialize strings at all? — JohnFx, Dec 13 '11 at 17:00
I guess it depends on what exactly the OP is asking here. (See my previous comment) — JohnFx, Dec 13 '11 at 17:02
@JohnFx My question is a duplicate. Thank you for the link. (What mean OP?) — Bastien Vandamme, Dec 13 '11 at 17:09

jmacinnes · Answer 1 · 2011-12-13T17:02:38.980

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IMO, use string.Empty since it increases code readability. Code style scanners like Gendarme and FxCop will flag usage of "" as against best practice.

Edit: Removed blurb about memory usage, which was incorrect.

edited Dec 13 '11 at 17:02

answered Dec 13 '11 at 16:57

jmacinnes

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But isn't `""` canonicalized anyway, or is it different from Java? – Paul Bellora Dec 13 '11 at 16:58
@KublaiKhan: No; try it. – SLaks Dec 13 '11 at 17:01
@jmacinnes: I can't find that FxCop rule anywhere. (although it does sound familiar) – SLaks Dec 13 '11 at 17:01
@SLaks - Interesting, so is interning considered different from canonicalization? My only point was that the difference in memory usage would be negligible if at all. Seems people arrived at that conclusion anyway. – Paul Bellora Dec 13 '11 at 17:13

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 13 '11 at 17:02

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Assuming the question means "Why should you initialize strings" and not "Which method is best for initializing strings"...

Yes, it is a good idea to initialize strings to minimize the potential for null reference exceptions in your code. It is easy to create a code path where the string is never set and when you call a method on that string it will error.

answered Dec 13 '11 at 17:02

JohnFx

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+1 for answering the actual question. – Stefan Paul Noack Dec 13 '11 at 17:06
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@noah19 - the _revised_ question. – H H Dec 13 '11 at 21:05

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 13 '11 at 17:17

Considering that there is a meaningful difference between a null string and and empty string, I think that the answer is "it depends". If your code has no use for the null value, and you want to be able to write code referencing the variable with the assumption that the value is non-null then it makes sense to initialize. But there may be cases where null is valid and useful, and initializing does not make sense. For instance, if the string holds a value received from some test equipment, null may convey that no value was received, while "" conveys that something was received, and it happened to be an empty string.

Is there a reason to initialize a string in C#?

3 Answers3