How to easily initialize a list of Tuples?

Question

I love tuples. They allow you to quickly group relevant information together without having to write a struct or class for it. This is very useful while refactoring very localized code.

Initializing a list of them however seems a bit redundant.

var tupleList = new List<Tuple<int, string>>
{
    Tuple.Create( 1, "cow" ),
    Tuple.Create( 5, "chickens" ),
    Tuple.Create( 1, "airplane" )
};

Isn't there a better way? I would love a solution along the lines of the Dictionary initializer.

Dictionary<int, string> students = new Dictionary<int, string>()
{
    { 111, "bleh" },
    { 112, "bloeh" },
    { 113, "blah" }
};

Can't we use a similar syntax?

Answer 1

c# 7.0 lets you do this:

  var tupleList = new List<(int, string)>
  {
      (1, "cow"),
      (5, "chickens"),
      (1, "airplane")
  };

If you don't need a List, but just an array, you can do:

  var tupleList = new(int, string)[]
  {
      (1, "cow"),
      (5, "chickens"),
      (1, "airplane")
  };

And if you don't like "Item1" and "Item2", you can do:

  var tupleList = new List<(int Index, string Name)>
  {
      (1, "cow"),
      (5, "chickens"),
      (1, "airplane")
  };

or for an array:

  var tupleList = new (int Index, string Name)[]
  {
      (1, "cow"),
      (5, "chickens"),
      (1, "airplane")
  };

which lets you do: tupleList[0].Index and tupleList[0].Name

Framework 4.6.2 and below

You must install System.ValueTuple from the Nuget Package Manager.

Framework 4.7 and above

It is built into the framework. Do not install System.ValueTuple. In fact, remove it and delete it from the bin directory.

note: In real life, I wouldn't be able to choose between cow, chickens or airplane. I would be really torn.