vb.net: clearing all contents of string array

i have this:

    Dim split As String() = temp_string.Split(",")

    ''#fe开发者_开发问答ed all info into global variables
    patient_id = split(0)
    doc_name = split(1)
    lot__no = split(2)
    patient_name = split(3)

how do i clear all the contents of split() ?

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Array.Clear(split, 0, split.Length)

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ReDim split(-1)

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No need to do anything. The garbage collector will do its jobs clearing the variable. Explicitly set every variable to nothing will slow down your application.

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You can always set it to Nothing which will clear the reference. Then the garbage collector will take care of the rest when it finds that to be a good idea.

split = Nothing

However, if this is a local variable of a method you would typically not need to worry about this, the array will be available for garbage collection as soon as it goes out of scope.