In .NET, which loop runs faster, 'for' or 'foreach'?

Question

In C#/VB.NET/.NET, which loop runs faster, for or foreach?

Ever since I read that a for loop works faster than a foreach

Answer 1

Whether for is faster than foreach is really besides the point. I seriously doubt that choosing one over the other will make a significant impact on your performance.

The best way to optimize your application is through profiling of the actual code. That will pinpoint the methods that account for the most work/time. Optimize those first. If performance is still not acceptable, repeat the procedure.

As a general rule I would recommend to stay away from micro optimizations as they will rarely yield any significant gains. Only exception is when optimizing identified hot paths (i.e. if your profiling identifies a few highly used methods, it may make sense to optimize these extensively).