IEnumerable Null Safeguard Extension - Useful When Iterating (ForEach Loop)

1Q_ForEachSafeNullCheck.cs

foreach (var item in items ?? new List<string>())
{
  //do something
}

2A_BetterIteratorSafeCheckExtension.cs

public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> OrEmptyListIfNull<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source)
    {
        return source ?? Enumerable.Empty<T>();
    }
}

foreach(var item in items.OrEmptyListIfNull()) 
{
  //do something
}

I typically do all this as an assignment outside the looping construct - extensions are nice but they can be confusing.

items = items ?? new List();

or

var list = items ?? new List();

is cleaner IMO

@jglozano: I started down that path and thought, I could shortcut this at the point of the loop...

Late entry by @damianh (randompunter on twitter) - https://gist.github.com/1120821

http://twitter.com/randompunter/status/98457825998684160

"@ferventcoder in a similar vein https://gist.github.com/1120821"

Good stuff. The name of the extension is a little more clear.

I settled on the extension method named OrEmptyListIfNull. This directly borrows from @cammerman's https://gist.github.com/1120655 ;)

as in

foreach(var item in items.OrEmptyListIfNull()) 
{
  //do something
}

I posted the code back at the top of this gist.

This feels like community design... :D