String.Intern(String) Method

public:
 static System::String ^ Intern(System::String ^ str);

public static string Intern(string str);

static member Intern : string -> string

Public Shared Function Intern (str As String) As String

Parameters

Returns

The system's reference to str, if it is interned; otherwise, a new reference to a string with the value of str.

Exceptions

Examples

The following example creates two strings with equal values and demonstrates that interning them yields the same reference.

// Sample for String.Intern(String)
using System;
using System.Text;

class Sample
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string s1 = new StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString();
        string s2 = new StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString();
        Console.WriteLine($"s1 == {s1}");
        Console.WriteLine($"s2 == {s2}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Are s1 and s2 equal in value? {s1 == s2}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Are s1 and s2 the same reference? {Object.ReferenceEquals(s1, s2)}");

        string i1 = String.Intern(s1);
        string i2 = String.Intern(s2);
        Console.WriteLine($"After interning:");
        Console.WriteLine($"  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? {i1 == i2}");
        Console.WriteLine($"  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? {Object.ReferenceEquals(i1, i2)}");
    }
}
/*
This example produces the following results:
s1 == MyTest
s2 == MyTest
Are s1 and s2 equal in value? True
Are s1 and s2 the same reference? False
After interning:
  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? True
  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? True
*/

// Sample for String.Intern(String)
open System
open System.Text

let s1 = StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString()
let s2 = StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString()
printfn $"s1 = {s1}"
printfn $"s2 = {s2}"
printfn $"Are s1 and s2 equal in value? {s1 = s2}"
printfn $"Are s1 and s2 the same reference? {Object.ReferenceEquals(s1, s2)}"

let i1 = String.Intern s1
let i2 = String.Intern s2
printfn "After interning:"
printfn $"  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? {i1 = i2}"
printfn $"  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? {Object.ReferenceEquals(i1, i2)}"
(*
This example produces the following results:
s1 = MyTest
s2 = MyTest
Are s1 and s2 equal in value? True
Are s1 and s2 the same reference? False
After interning:
  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? True
  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? True
*)

Imports System.Text

Class Sample

    Public Shared Sub Run()
        Dim s1 As String = New StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString()
        Dim s2 As String = New StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString()
        Console.WriteLine($"s1 = {s1}")
        Console.WriteLine($"s2 = {s2}")
        Console.WriteLine($"Are s1 and s2 equal in value? {s1 = s2}")
        Console.WriteLine($"Are s1 and s2 the same reference? {s1 Is s2}")

        Dim i1 As String = String.Intern(s1)
        Dim i2 As String = String.Intern(s2)
        Console.WriteLine("After interning:")
        Console.WriteLine($"  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? {i1 = i2}")
        Console.WriteLine($"  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? {i1 Is i2}")
    End Sub
End Class
'
's1 = MyTest
's2 = MyTest
'Are s1 and s2 equal in value? True
'Are s1 and s2 the same reference? False
'After interning:
'  Are i1 and i2 equal in value? True
'  Are i1 and i2 the same reference? True
'

Remarks

![NOTE] > While String.Intern guarantees that two strings with equal values return the same interned reference, it doesn't guarantee that the returned reference is the same as a string literal.

        The common language runtime maintains a table, called the *intern pool*, that holds a single reference for each unique string value. The <xref:System.String.Intern*> method uses the intern pool to search for a string equal to the value of `str`. If no such string exists, a reference to `str` is added to the pool, and that reference is returned. (In contrast, the <xref:System.String.IsInterned(System.String)> method returns a null reference if the requested string doesn't exist in the intern pool.)

The intern pool can be used by the runtime to conserve string storage. However, automatic interning of string literals isn't guaranteed—depending on how the assembly was compiled and executed, some literals might not be added to the pool.

In the following example, the string s1 has a value of "MyTest". The System.Text.StringBuilder class generates a new string object that has the same value as s1. A reference to that string is assigned to s2. The Intern method searches for a string that has the same value as s2. If s1 was already interned (for example, because the assembly requires string-literal interning), the method returns the same reference as s1, which is then assigned to s3, and s1 and s3 compare equal. Otherwise, a new interned entry is created for s2 and assigned to s3, and s1 and s3 compare unequal. In either case, s1 and s2 compare unequal because they refer to different objects.

string s1 = "MyTest"; 
string s2 = new StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString(); 
string s3 = String.Intern(s2); 
Console.WriteLine((Object)s2==(Object)s1); // Different references.
Console.WriteLine((Object)s3==(Object)s1); // The same reference.

let s1 = "MyTest"
let s2 = StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString()
let s3 = String.Intern s2
printfn $"{s2 :> obj = s1 :> obj}" // Different references.
printfn $"{s3 :> obj = s1 :> obj}" // The same reference.

Dim s1 As String = "MyTest" 
Dim s2 As String = New StringBuilder().Append("My").Append("Test").ToString() 
Dim s3 As String = String.Intern(s2) 
Console.WriteLine(CObj(s2) Is CObj(s1))      ' Different references.
Console.WriteLine(CObj(s3) Is CObj(s1))      ' The same reference.

Performance considerations

If you're trying to reduce the total amount of memory your application allocates, keep in mind that interning a string has two unwanted side effects. First, the memory allocated for interned String objects is not likely to be released until the common language runtime (CLR) terminates. The reason is that the CLR's reference to the interned String object can persist after your application, or even your application domain, terminates. Second, to intern a string, you must first create the string. The memory used by the String object must still be allocated, even though the memory will eventually be garbage collected.

The CompilationRelaxations.NoStringInterning enumeration member marks an assembly as not requiring string-literal interning. By default, the C# compiler emits a CompilationRelaxationsAttribute with the NoStringInterning flag on each assembly for better performance, which means string literals are not guaranteed to be added to the intern pool. You can customize NoStringInterning on an assembly using the CompilationRelaxationsAttribute attribute.

When you publish an app using native AOT, turning off NoStringInterning is not supported. With native AOT, string literals aren't guaranteed to be added to the intern pool, so Intern might not find a match for a string that appears to be a literal in source code.

See also

• IsInterned(String)