System.DictionaryEntry

Overview

The System.DictionaryEntry structure represents a dictionary entry (a key/value pair) in a non-generic dictionary.

It is commonly used with collections that implement IDictionary and when iterating through a dictionary using IDictionaryEnumerator.

Syntax

public struct DictionaryEntry
{
    public DictionaryEntry(object key, object value);
    public object Key { get; set; }
    public object Value { get; set; }
}

Properties

Remarks

DictionaryEntry is a value type. When used in collections that store objects, boxing and unboxing may occur, which can affect performance.

For new development, consider using the generic KeyValuePair<TKey,TValue> structure instead.

Examples

The following example demonstrates iterating through a non‑generic Hashtable and accessing each DictionaryEntry:

using System;
using System.Collections;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        Hashtable table = new Hashtable();
        table["Apple"] = "Red";
        table["Banana"] = "Yellow";

        foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in table)
        {
            Console.WriteLine($"Key = {entry.Key}, Value = {entry.Value}");
        }
    }
}

See also

• System.Collections.Hashtable
• System.Collections.IDictionary
• System.Collections.Generic.KeyValuePair<TKey,TValue>