Does Stream.Dispose always call Stream.Close (and Stream.Flush)

JasonRShaver picture JasonRShaver · May 26, 2009 · Viewed 42.2k times · Source

If I have the following situation:

StreamWriter MySW = null;
try
{
   Stream MyStream = new FileStream("asdf.txt");
   MySW = new StreamWriter(MyStream);
   MySW.Write("blah");
}
finally
{
   if (MySW != null)
   {
      MySW.Flush();
      MySW.Close();
      MySW.Dispose();
   }
}

Can I just call MySW.Dispose() and skip the Close even though it is provided? Are there any Stream implimentations that don't work as expected (Like CryptoStream)?

If not, then is the following just bad code:

using (StreamWriter MySW = new StreamWriter(MyStream))
{
   MySW.Write("Blah");
}

Answer

Binary Worrier picture Binary Worrier · May 26, 2009

Can I just call MySW.Dispose() and skip the Close even though it is provided?

Yes, that’s what it’s for.

Are there any Stream implementations that don't work as expected (Like CryptoStream)?

It is safe to assume that if an object implements IDisposable, it will dispose of itself properly.

If it doesn’t, then that would be a bug.

If not, then is the following just bad code:

No, that code is the recommended way of dealing with objects that implement IDisposable.

More excellent information is in the accepted answer to Close and Dispose - which to call?