DataTable.Copy Vs DataTable.Clone

Both the methods DataTable.Clone and DataTable.Copyare are used to make copies of existing datatables, the difference is

DataTable.Clone() - Copies only the structure of the source table with the constraints, the data is not copied from the source table.

DataTable.Copy() - Copies the structure and data from the source table.

Example: DataTable.Clone()

DataTable targetTable;

targetTable = sourceTable.Clone();

Here, the targetTable is created with only the structure of the sourceTable

targetTable.Rows.Count() returns 0.

Example: DataTable.Copy()

DataTable targetTable;

targetTable = sourceTable.Copy();

Here, the targetTable is created with a copy of the structure and data from the sourceTable

targetTable.Rows.Count() returns the number of rows which were present in the sourceTable.

That’s it, we have seen the difference between DataTable.Copy() and DataTable.Clone()