Pairing Up Two Arrays (the zip operation)

In this lesson you will learn how to pair up two arrays with C#'s Zip method, so related data can be handled together. This is for anyone searching for "C# LINQ Zip how to use".

Combining two corresponding arrays - a list of names and a list of scores, say - into pairs one by one is called a zip operation. LINQ provides .Zip().

The sample code uses names.Zip(scores, (n, s) => $"({n}, {s})") to pair up the elements at matching positions in names and scores, formatting each pair readably with string interpolation.

A common stumbling block for beginners is what happens when the two arrays are different lengths. .Zip() stops at the shorter one, so any leftovers are simply not included.

In real-world development, it is a handy LINQ feature whenever you want to loop over several lists at once. For three or more lists, chaining Zip calls works.

📖 Reference code

string[] names = { "Alice", "Bob", "Charlie" };
int[] scores = { 88, 95, 72 };

var pairs = names.Zip(scores, (n, s) => $"({n}, {s})");
Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", pairs));

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