Merging two arrays in .NET

In C# 3.0 you can use LINQ's Concat method to accomplish this easily:

int[] front = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
int[] back = { 5, 6, 7, 8 };
int[] combined = front.Concat(back).ToArray();

In C# 2.0 you don't have such a direct way, but Array.Copy is probably the best solution:

int[] front = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
int[] back = { 5, 6, 7, 8 };

int[] combined = new int[front.Length + back.Length];
Array.Copy(front, combined, front.Length);
Array.Copy(back, 0, combined, front.Length, back.Length);

This could easily be used to implement your own version of Concat.

If you can manipulate one of the arrays, you can resize it before performing the copy:

T[] array1 = getOneArray();
T[] array2 = getAnotherArray();
int array1OriginalLength = array1.Length;
Array.Resize<T>(ref array1, array1OriginalLength + array2.Length);
Array.Copy(array2, 0, array1, array1OriginalLength, array2.Length);

Otherwise, you can make a new array

T[] array1 = getOneArray();
T[] array2 = getAnotherArray();
T[] newArray = new T[array1.Length + array2.Length];
Array.Copy(array1, newArray, array1.Length);
Array.Copy(array2, 0, newArray, array1.Length, array2.Length);

More on available Array methods on MSDN.

First, make sure you ask yourself the question "Should I really be using an Array here"?

Unless you're building something where speed is of the utmost importance, a typed List, like List<int> is probably the way to go. The only time I ever use arrays are for byte arrays when sending stuff over the network. Other than that, I never touch them.

I think you can use Array.Copy for this. It takes a source index and destination index so you should be able to append the one array to the other. If you need to go more complex than just appending one to the other, this may not be the right tool for you.

This is what I came up with. Works for a variable number of arrays.

public static T[] ConcatArrays<T>(params T[][] args)
    {
        if (args == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException();

        var offset = 0;
        var newLength = args.Sum(arr => arr.Length); 
        var newArray = new T[newLength];

        foreach (var arr in args)
        {
            Buffer.BlockCopy(arr, 0, newArray, offset, arr.Length);
            offset += arr.Length;
        }

        return newArray;
    }

...

var header = new byte[] { 0, 1, 2};
var data = new byte[] { 3, 4, 5, 6 };
var checksum = new byte[] {7, 0};
var newArray = ConcatArrays(header, data, checksum);
//output byte[9] { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 0 }

Assuming the destination array has enough space, Array.Copy() will work. You might also try using a List<T> and its .AddRange() method.

If you have the source arrays in an array itself you can use SelectMany:

var arrays = new[]{new[]{1, 2, 3}, new[]{4, 5, 6}};
var combined = arrays.SelectMany(a => a).ToArray();
foreach (var v in combined) Console.WriteLine(v);   

gives

1
2
3
4
5
6

Probably this is not the fastest method but might fit depending on usecase.

I'm assuming you're using your own array types as opposed to the built-in .NET arrays:

public string[] merge(input1, input2)
{
    string[] output = new string[input1.length + input2.length];
    for(int i = 0; i < output.length; i++)
    {
        if (i >= input1.length)
            output[i] = input2[i-input1.length];
        else
            output[i] = input1[i];
    }
    return output;
}

Another way of doing this would be using the built in ArrayList class.

public ArrayList merge(input1, input2)
{
    Arraylist output = new ArrayList();
    foreach(string val in input1)
        output.add(val);
    foreach(string val in input2)
        output.add(val);
    return output;
}

Both examples are C#.

Created and extension method to handle null

public static class IEnumerableExtenions
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> UnionIfNotNull<T>(this IEnumerable<T> list1, IEnumerable<T> list2)
    {
        if (list1 != null && list2 != null)
            return list1.Union(list2);
        else if (list1 != null)
            return list1;
        else if (list2 != null)
            return list2;
        else return null;
    }
}

string[] names1 = new string[] { "Ava", "Emma", "Olivia" };
string[] names2 = new string[] { "Olivia", "Sophia", "Emma" };
List<string> arr = new List<string>(names1.Length + names2.Length);
arr.AddRange(names1);
arr.AddRange(names2);
string[] result = arr.Distinct().ToArray();
foreach(string str in result)
{
    Console.WriteLine(str.ToString());
}

Console.ReadLine();

Simple code to join multiple arrays:

string[] arr1 = ...
string[] arr2 = ...
string[] arr3 = ...    
List<string> arr = new List<string>(arr1.Length + arr2.Length + arr3.Length);
arr.AddRange(arr1);
arr.AddRange(arr2);
arr.AddRange(arr3);
string[] result = arr.ToArray();

This is another way to do this :)

public static void ArrayPush<T>(ref T[] table, object value)
{
    Array.Resize(ref table, table.Length + 1); // Resizing the array for the cloned length (+-) (+1)
    table.SetValue(value, table.Length - 1); // Setting the value for the new element
}

public static void MergeArrays<T>(ref T[] tableOne, T[] tableTwo) {
    foreach(var element in tableTwo) {
        ArrayPush(ref tableOne, element);
    }
}

Here is the snippet/example