Working with Lists

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The RTL includes many classes that represent lists or collections of items. The lists vary depending on the types of items they contain, the operations they support, and whether they are persistent.

The following table lists various list classes, and indicates the types of items they contain:

Object	Maintains
System.Classes.TList	A list of pointers
System.Classes.TThreadList	A thread-safe list of pointers
System.Contnrs.TBucketList	A hashed list of pointers
System.Contnrs.TObjectBucketList	A hashed list of object instances
System.Contnrs.TObjectList	A memory-managed list of object instances
System.Contnrs.TComponentList	A memory-managed list of components (that is, instances of classes descended from TComponent)
System.Contnrs.TClassList	A list of class references
Classes.TInterfaceList	A list of interface pointers.
System.Contnrs.TQueue	A first-in first-out list of pointers
System.Contnrs.TStack	A last-in first-out list of pointers
System.Contnrs.TObjectQueue	A first-in first-out list of objects
System.Contnrs.TObjectStack	A last-in first-out list of objects
Classes.TCollection	Base class for many specialized classes of typed items.
Classes.TStringList	A list of strings
System.IniFiles.THashedStringList	A list of strings with the form Name=Value, hashed for performance.
System.Generics.Collections.TArray	Class that contains static methods for searching and sorting a generic array.
System.Generics.Collections.TDictionary	Collection of key-value pairs.
System.Generics.Collections.TEnumerable	TEnumerable is an abstract class inherited by all enumerable containers.
System.Generics.Collections.TEnumerator	TEnumerator is an abstract class implemented by all enumerator classes.
System.Generics.Collections.TList	Ordered list.
System.Generics.Collections.TObjectDictionary	Collection of key and/or value objects.
System.Generics.Collections.TObjectList	Ordered list of objects.
System.Generics.Collections.TObjectQueue	Queue of objects.
System.Generics.Collections.TObjectStack	Last in, first out stack of objects.
System.Generics.Collections.TQueue	Queue implemented over array, using wrapping.
System.Generics.Collections.TStack	Last in, first out stack.
System.Generics.Collections.TThreadedQueue	Represents a generic threaded queue.
System.Generics.Collections.TThreadList	Represents a generic thread-safe list.

Note: The System.Generics.Collection classes use a growing strategy implemented by System.SysUtils.GrowCollection.

Topics

• Common List Operations
• Persistent Lists

See Also

• Working with String Lists
• Common List Operations
• Persistent Lists
• Working with Strings