Cleanest way to write retry logic?

Question

Occasionally I have a need to retry an operation several times before giving up. My code is like:

int retries = 3;
while(true) {
  try {
    DoSomething();
         


        

Answer 1

public void TryThreeTimes(Action action)
{
    var tries = 3;
    while (true) {
        try {
            action();
            break; // success!
        } catch {
            if (--tries == 0)
                throw;
            Thread.Sleep(1000);
        }
    }
}

Then you would call:

TryThreeTimes(DoSomething);

...or alternatively...

TryThreeTimes(() => DoSomethingElse(withLocalVariable));

---

A more flexible option:

public void DoWithRetry(Action action, TimeSpan sleepPeriod, int tryCount = 3)
{
    if (tryCount <= 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(tryCount));

    while (true) {
        try {
            action();
            break; // success!
        } catch {
            if (--tryCount == 0)
                throw;
            Thread.Sleep(sleepPeriod);
        }
   }
}

To be used as:

DoWithRetry(DoSomething, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2), tryCount: 10);

---

A more modern version with support for async/await:

public async Task DoWithRetryAsync(Func action, TimeSpan sleepPeriod, int tryCount = 3)
{
    if (tryCount <= 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(tryCount));

    while (true) {
        try {
            await action();
            return; // success!
        } catch {
            if (--tryCount == 0)
                throw;
            await Task.Delay(sleepPeriod);
        }
   }
}

To be used as:

await DoWithRetryAsync(DoSomethingAsync, TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2), tryCount: 10);