Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute in ArrayList [duplicate]

I'm trying to remove an item from an ArrayList and I get this Exception:
Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute.

Any ideas?


You are removing the item during a foreach, yes? Simply, you can't. There are a few common options here:

  • use List<T> and RemoveAll with a predicate
  • iterate backwards by index, removing matching items

    for(int i = list.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
        if({some test}) list.RemoveAt(i);
    }
    
  • use foreach, and put matching items into a second list; now enumerate the second list and remove those items from the first (if you see what I mean)


Here's an example (sorry for any typos)

var itemsToRemove = new ArrayList();  // should use generic List if you can

foreach (var item in originalArrayList) {
  if (...) {
    itemsToRemove.Add(item);
  }
}

foreach (var item in itemsToRemove) {
  originalArrayList.Remove(item);
}

OR if you're using 3.5, Linq makes the first bit easier:

itemsToRemove = originalArrayList
  .Where(item => ...)
  .ToArray();

foreach (var item in itemsToRemove) {
  originalArrayList.Remove(item);
}

Replace "..." with your condition that determines if item should be removed.