Convert string to List<string> in one line?

List<string> result = names.Split(new char[] { ',' }).ToList();

Or even cleaner by Dan's suggestion:

List<string> result = names.Split(',').ToList();

The List<T> has a constructor that accepts an IEnumerable<T>:

List<string> listOfNames = new List<string>(names.Split(','));

I prefer this because it prevents a single item list with an empty item if your source string is empty:

  IEnumerable<string> namesList = 
      !string.isNullOrEmpty(names) ? names.Split(',') : Enumerable.Empty<string>();

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