LINQ Interview Question #49

What does ElementAtOrDefault do?

Filtering, Projection, Ordering & Element Operators Mid-Level Intermediate

Quick Interview Answer

ElementAtOrDefault returns the element at the specified zero-based position, or the default value when the index is outside the valid range.

Detailed Explanation

ElementAtOrDefault returns the element at the specified zero-based position, or the default value when the index is outside the valid range.

It avoids an out-of-range exception, but callers should consider whether the default value can be distinguished safely from a legitimate element value.

Code Example

var names = new[] { "Ali", "Sara" };

string? third = names.ElementAtOrDefault(2);

// null