c# - Is foreach purely “syntactic sugar”?

Question

The compiler compiles a foreach loop into something like a for loop when the foreach is used with an array. And the compiler compiles a foreach loop into something like a while loop when the foreach is used with an IEnumerable or IEnumerable<T>. So does this mean foreach is purely syntactic sugar? Or is there anything sophisticated about it?

Does the CLR know about foreach? Is there anything specifically designed for foreach in the MSIL code?

Answer 1

It's purely syntactic sugar in that you could obtain the same behaviour without it, yes. Many other things are the same... for, while etc... To misquote Archimedes: "Give me if and goto, and I will move the code..."

No, the CLR doesn't have any concept of foreach.