Why is there need to set StreamReader sr = null first ?? Does it have some default value in it or what?

Question

Why set it to null first ?

[EDIT]

there was this code about reading some file..it was like

StreamReader sr=null;
StreamReader sr= new StreamReader("file.txt");

I asked why would you set "SR" as null first BEFORE referencing the file u wanna read

You really should provide an example of what you are talking about. Otherwise, this question is about as vague as it gets. — sgriffinusa, Sep 24 '10 at 05:38
You state that there is a "need" to set StreamReader to null. There is no such requirement. What is making you think this? Are you getting errors in your code, a colleague is telling you, etc. We need more information if we are to assist. — sgriffinusa, Sep 24 '10 at 05:49
I thot it must be common practice to set that pointer to null first..so asked in a general way..sry.."sr" is a pointer right ?? — Serenity, Sep 24 '10 at 05:56
@user: Tim's answer below should serve you. There is no need to set a StreamReader to null before constructing it. — Michael Petrotta, Sep 24 '10 at 05:59
In situations where you have a try/catch/finally (example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16352879/write-list-of-objects-to-a-file#answer-22416929 ), you would put the sr.Close(); in the finally block, and in such a case you need to set sr to null or to something, else you will get an error in VisualStudio. — Jo Smo, May 08 '14 at 13:39

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 24 '10 at 05:54

8

There is no need to do that... in fact, the code above should give you a compile error as sr is already defined.

And you should probably write it as

using (var sr = new StreamReader("file.txt"))
{
        //code here
}

in order to make sure it is properly disposed after usage (lookup IDisposable)

answered Sep 24 '10 at 05:54

TimothyP

ok thnx..I thot its got some default value or something – Serenity Sep 24 '10 at 06:01

1 Answers1