Predicate Delegates in C#

A predicate is a function that returns true or false. A predicate delegate is a reference to a predicate.

So basically a predicate delegate is a reference to a function that returns true or false. Predicates are very useful for filtering a list of values - here is an example.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        List<int> list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3 };

        Predicate<int> predicate = new Predicate<int>(greaterThanTwo);

        List<int> newList = list.FindAll(predicate);
    }

    static bool greaterThanTwo(int arg)
    {
        return arg > 2;
    }
}

Now if you are using C# 3 you can use a lambda to represent the predicate in a cleaner fashion:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        List<int> list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3 };

        List<int> newList = list.FindAll(i => i > 2);
    }
}

Leading on from Andrew's answer with regards to c#2 and c#3 ... you can also do them inline for a one off search function (see below).

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        List<int> list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3 };

        List<int> newList = list.FindAll(delegate(int arg)
                           {
                               return arg> 2;
                           });
    }
}

Hope this helps.

Just a delegate that returns a boolean. It is used a lot in filtering lists but can be used wherever you'd like.

List<DateRangeClass>  myList = new List<DateRangeClass<GetSomeDateRangeArrayToPopulate);
myList.FindAll(x => (x.StartTime <= minDateToReturn && x.EndTime >= maxDateToReturn):