What is the difference between shallow copy and deep copy?

Question

Ponu Maurya · Answer

In C#, shallow copy and deep copy refer to two different ways of copying an object, especially when it contains references to other objects (complex or nested structures).
Definitions
Type
Description
Shallow Copy
Copies the object and its immediate references, but 
not the objects those references point to. Both the original and the copy share the same referenced objects.
Deep Copy
Copies the object and recursively copies all referenced objects, creating a completely
independent duplicate.
Example
public class Person
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public Address Address { get; set; }
}
public class Address
{
    public string City { get; set; }
}
Shallow Copy:
Person p1 = new Person { Name = "Alice", Address = new Address { City = "London" } };
Person p2 = (Person)p1.MemberwiseClone(); // Shallow copy
p2.Name is a new string (value type in effect).p2.Address is shared with p1 — changing
p2.Address.City will also affect p1.
Deep Copy:
Person p1 = new Person { Name = "Alice", Address = new Address { City = "London" } };
Person p2 = new Person
{
    Name = p1.Name,
    Address = new Address { City = p1.Address.City } // New Address instance
};
p2 is fully independent of p1.Modifying p2.Address.City will not affect p1.
Shallow Copy in .NET:
You can perform a shallow copy using:
object copy = this.MemberwiseClone();
This is protected and typically used within a class implementing ICloneable.
Deep Copy Techniques:
Manual Copy (as shown above)Serialization (BinaryFormatter, JSON, etc.)AutoMapper or libraries that support deep copying
Summary Table
Feature
Shallow Copy
Deep Copy
References copied?
Yes
No (references are recreated)
Memory Usage
Low
High (more object instances created)
Performance
Fast
Slower
Use Case
When shared references are OK
When full independence is needed
and 
Also Read
How to get error line number in c#?Generics in C#Storing Data in Custom ClassHow to print report in pdf?How to finds control in gridviewGenerating a lambda by passing in a property name for use in .Count() with Where condition

Type	Description
Shallow Copy	Copies the object and its immediate references, but not the objects those references point to. Both the original and the copy share the same referenced objects.
Deep Copy	Copies the object and recursively copies all referenced objects, creating a completely independent duplicate.

forum

What is the difference between shallow copy and deep copy?

Anubhav Kumar

Can you answer this question?

1 Answers

Definitions

Example

Shallow Copy:

Deep Copy:

Shallow Copy in .NET:

Deep Copy Techniques:

Summary Table

Liked By

Feature	Shallow Copy	Deep Copy
References copied?	Yes	No (references are recreated)
Memory Usage	Low	High (more object instances created)
Performance	Fast	Slower
Use Case	When shared references are OK	When full independence is needed