Queue.Clone() Method in C#

Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025

This method is used to create a shallow copy of the Queue. It just creates a copy of the Queue. The copy will have a reference to a clone of the internal elements but not a reference to the original elements.

Syntax: public virtual object Clone (); Return Value: The method returns an Object which is just the shallow copy of the Queue.

Example 1: Let's see an example without using a Clone() method and directly copying a Queue using assignment operator '='. In the below code, we can see even if we Dequeue() elements from myQueue2, contents of myQueue is also changed. This is because '=' just assigns the reference of myQueue to myQueue2 and does not create any new Queue. But Clone() creates a new Queue.

csharp

// C# program to Copy a Queue using  // the assignment operator using System; using System.Collections; class GFG {  // Main Method  public static void Main(string[] args)  {  Queue myQueue = new Queue();  myQueue.Enqueue("Geeks");  myQueue.Enqueue("Class");  myQueue.Enqueue("Noida");  myQueue.Enqueue("UP");  // Creating a copy using the   // assignment operator.  Queue myQueue2 = myQueue;   myQueue2.Dequeue();  PrintValues(myQueue);  }  public static void PrintValues(IEnumerable myCollection)  {  // This method prints all the  // elements in the Stack.  foreach(Object obj in myCollection)  Console.WriteLine(obj);  } }

Output:

 Class Noida UP

Example 2: Here myQueue is unchanged.

csharp

// C# program to illustrate the use  // of Object.Clone() Method  using System; using System.Collections; class GFG {  // Main Method  public static void Main(string[] args)  {  Queue myQueue = new Queue();  myQueue.Enqueue("Geeks");  myQueue.Enqueue("Class");  myQueue.Enqueue("Noida");  myQueue.Enqueue("UP");  // Creating copy using Clone() method.  Queue myQueue2 = (Queue)myQueue.Clone();   myQueue2.Dequeue();  PrintValues(myQueue);  }  public static void PrintValues(IEnumerable myCollection)  {  // This method prints all the  // elements in the Stack.  foreach(Object obj in myCollection)  Console.WriteLine(obj);  Console.WriteLine();  } }