LINQ (C# 3.0)
LINQ allows you to write structured type-safe queries over local object collections and remote data sources. LINQ is a new feature of C# 3.0 and .NET Framework 3.5.
LINQ lets you query any collection implementing IEnumerable<>, whether an array, list, XML DOM, or remote data source (such as a table in SQL Server). LINQ offers the benefits of both compile-time type checking and dynamic query composition.
LINQ Fundamentals
The basic units of data in LINQ are sequences and elements. A sequence is any object that implements the generic IEnumerable interface and an element is each item in the sequence. In the following example, name is a sequence, and Tom, Dick, and Harry is elements:
string [] name = { "Tom", "Dick", "Harry" };
A sequence such as this we call a local sequence because it represents a local collection of objects in memory.
A query operator is a method that transforms a sequence. A typical query operator accepts an input sequence and emits a transformed output sequence. In the Enumerable class in System.Linq, there are around 40 query operators; all implemented as static extension methods. These are called standard query operators.
Note: LINQ also supports sequences that can be dynamically fed from a remote data source such as a SQL Server. These sequences additionally implement the IQueryable<> interface and are supported through a matching set of standard query operators in the Queryable class.
A simple query
A query is an expression that transforms sequences with one or more query operators. The simplest query comprises one input sequence and one operator. For instance, we can apply the Where operator on a simple array to extract those whose length is at least four characters as follows:
string[] names = { "Tom", "Dick", "Harry" };
IEnumerable<string> filteredNames =
System.Linq.Enumerable.Where (
names, n => n.Length >= 4);
foreach (string n in filteredNames)
Console.Write (n + "|"); // Dick|Harry|
Because the standard query operators are implemented as extension methods, we can call Where directly on names—as though it were an instance method:
IEnumerable<string> filteredNames =
names.Where (n => n.Length >= 4);
(For this to compile, you must import the System.Linq namespace with a using directive.) The Where method in System.Linq.Enumerable has the following signature:
static IEnumerable<TSource> Where<TSource> (
this IEnumerable<TSource> source,
Func<TSource,bool> predicate)
Source is the input sequence; predicate is a delegate that is invoked on each input element. Where method includes all elements in the output sequence, for which the delegate returns true. Internally, it’s implemented with an iterator—here is its source code:
foreach (TSource element in source)
if (predicate (element))
yield return element;
Projecting
Another fundamental query operator is the Select method. This transforms (projects) each element in the input sequence with a given lambda expression:
string[] names = { "Tom", "Dick", "Harry" };
IEnumerable<string> upperNames =
names.Select (n => n.ToUpper());
foreach (string n in upperNames)
Console.Write (n + "|"); // TOM|DICK|HARRY|
A query can project into an anonymous type:
var query = names.Select (n => new {
Name = n,
Length = n.Length
});
foreach (var row in query)
Console.WriteLine (row);
Here’s the result:
{Name = Tom, Length = 3}
{Name = Dick, Length = 4}
{Name = Harry, Length = 5}
Take and Skip
The original ordering of elements within an input sequence is significant in LINQ. Some query operators rely on this behavior, such as Take, Skip, and Reverse. The Take operator outputs the first x elements, discarding the rest:
int[] numbers = { 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 };
IEnumerable<int> firstThree = numbers.Take (3);
// firstThree is { 10, 9, 8 }
The Skip operator ignores the first x elements, and outputs the rest:
IEnumerable<int> lastTwo = numbers.Skip (3);
// lastTwo is { 7, 6 }
Element operators
Not all query operators return a sequence. The element operators extract one element from the input sequence; examples are First, Last, Single, and ElementAt:
int[] numbers = { 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 };
int firstNumber = numbers.First( ); // 10
int lastNumber = numbers.Last( ); // 6
int secondNumber = numbers.ElementAt (2); //
int firstOddNumber = numbers.First (n => n % 2 == 1);
// 9
All of these operators throw an exception if no elements are present. To get a null/empty return value instead of an exception, use FirstOrDefault, LastOrDefault, SingleOrDefault, or ElementAtOrDefault.
The Single and SingleOrDefault methods are equivalent to First and FirstOrDefault except that they throw an exception if there’s more than one match. This behavior is useful in LINQ to SQL queries, when retrieving a row by primary key.
Aggregation operators
The aggregation operators return a scalar value, usually of numeric type. The most commonly used aggregation operators are Count, Min, Max, and Average:
int[] numbers = { 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 };
int count = numbers.Count(); // 5
int min = numbers.Min(); // 6
int max = numbers.Max(); // 10
double avg = numbers.Average(); // 8
Count accepts an optional predicate, which indicates whether to include a given element. The following counts all even numbers:
int evenNums = numbers.Count (n => n % 2 == 0); // 3
The Min, Max, and Average operators accept an optional argument that transforms each element before it is aggregated:
int maxRemainderAfterDivBy5 = numbers.Max (n % 5); // 4
The following calculates the root-mean-square of numbers:
double rms = Math.Sqrt (numbers.Average (n => n * n));
Quantifiers
The quantifiers return a bool value. The quantifiers are Contains, Any, All, and SequenceEquals (which compares two sequences):
int[] numbers = { 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 };
bool hasTheNumberNine = numbers.Contains (9); // true
bool hasMoreThanZeroElements = numbers.Any( ); // true
bool hasOddNum = numbers.Any (n => n % 2 == 1); // true
bool allOddNums = numbers.All (n => n % 2 == 1); // false
Set operators
The set operators accept two same-typed input sequences. Concat appends one sequence to another; Union does the same but with duplicates removed:
int[] seq1 = { 1, 2, 3 }, seq2 = { 3, 4, 5 };
IEnumerable<int>
concat = seq1.Concat (seq2), // { 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5 }
union = seq1.Union (seq2), // { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }
The other two operators in this category are Intersect and Except:
IEnumerable<int>
commonality = seq1.Intersect (seq2), // { 3 }
difference1 = seq1.Except (seq2), // { 1, 2 }
difference2 = seq2.Except (seq1); // { 4, 5 }
Deferred Execution
An important feature of many query operators is that they execute not when constructed, but when enumerated (in other words, when MoveNext is called on its enumerator). Consider the following query:
var numbers = new List<int> { 1 };
numbers.Add (1);
IEnumerable<int> query = numbers.Select (n => n * 10);
numbers.Add (2); // Sneak in an extra element
foreach (int n in query)
Console.Write (n + "|"); // 10|20|
The extra number that we sneaked into the list after constructing the query is included in the result because it’s not until the foreach statement runs that any filtering or sorting takes place. This is called deferred or lazy evaluation. Deferred execution decouples query construction from query execution, allowing you to construct a query in several steps, as well as making LINQ to SQL queries possible. All standard query operators provide deferred execution, with the following exceptions:
- Operators that return a single element or scalar value (the element operators, aggregation operators, and quantifiers)
- The following conversion operators:
ToArray, ToList, ToDictionary, ToLookup
The conversion operators are useful, in part, because they defeat lazy evaluation. This can be useful when:
- You want to “freeze” or cache the results at a certain point in time.
- You want to avoid reexecuting a computationally intensive query, or a query with a remote data source such as a LINQ to SQL table. (A side effect of lazy evaluation is the query gets reevaluated should you later reenumerate it.)
The following example illustrates the ToList operator:
var numbers = new List<int>() { 1, 2 };
List<int> timesTen = numbers
.Select (n => n * 10)
.ToList(); // Executes immediately into a List<int>
numbers.Clear();
Console.WriteLine (timesTen.Count); // Still 2
Note:
Subqueries provide another level of indirection. Everything in a subquery is subject to deferred execution—including aggregation and conversion methods—because the subquery is itself executed only lazily upon demand. Assuming names is a string array, a subquery looks like this:
names.Where (
n => n.Length ==
names.Min (n2 => n2.Length)
)
Standard Query Operators
The standard query operators (as implemented in the System.Linq.Enumerable class) can be divided into 12 categories, as summarized in below Table.
Table 1-2. Query operator categories |
||
| Category | Description | Deferred execution? |
| Filtering | Returns a subset of elements that satisfy a given condition | Yes |
| Projecting | Transforms each element with a lambda function, optionally expanding subsequences | Yes |
| Joining | Meshes elements of one collection with another, using a time-efficient lookup strategy | Yes |
| Ordering | Returns a reordering of a sequence | Yes |
| Grouping | Groups a sequence into subsequences | Yes |
| Set | Accepts two same-typed sequences, and returns their commonality, sum, or difference | Yes |
| Element | Picks a single element from a sequence | No |
| Aggregation | Performs a computation over a sequence, returning a scalar value (typically a number) | No |
| Quantifiers | Performs a computation over a sequence, returning true or false | No |
| Conversion: Import | Converts a nongeneric sequence to a (queryable) generic sequence | Yes |
| Conversion: Export | Converts a sequence to an array, list, dictionary or lookup, forcing immediate evaluation | No |
| Generation | Manufactures a simple sequence | Yes |
Table 1-3 to Table 1-14 summarize each of the query operators. The operators shown in bold have special support in C# 3.0 (see the upcoming “Query Syntax” section).
Table 1-3. Filtering operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Where | Returns a subset of elements that satisfy a given condition |
| Take | Returns the first x elements, and discards the rest |
| Skip | Ignores the first x elements, and returns the rest |
| TakeWhile | Emits elements from the input sequence until the given predicate is true |
| SkipWhile | Ignores elements from the input sequence until the given predicate is true, and then emits the rest |
| Distinct | Returns a collection that excludes duplicates |
Table 1-4. Projection operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Select | Transforms each input element with a given lambda expression |
| SelectMany | Transforms each input element, then flattens and concatenates the resultant subsequences |
Table 1-5. Joining operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Join | Applies a lookup strategy to match elements from two collections, emitting a flat result set |
| GroupJoin | As above, but emits a hierarchical result set |
Table 1-6. Ordering operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| OrderBy, ThenBy | Returns the elements sorted in ascending order |
| OrderByDescending, ThenByDescending | Returns the elements sorted in descending order |
| Reverse | Returns the elements in reverse order |
Table 1-7. Grouping operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| GroupBy | Groups a sequence into subsequences |
Table 1-8. Set operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Concat | Concatenates two sequences |
| Union | Concatenates two sequences, removing duplicates |
| Intersect | Returns elements present in both sequences |
| Except | Returns elements present in the first, but not the second sequence |
Table 1-9. Element operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| First, FirstOrDefault | Returns the first element in the sequence, or the first element satisfying a given predicate |
| Last, LastOrDefault | Returns the last element in the sequence, or the last element satisfying a given predicate |
| Single, SingleOrDefault | Equivalent to First/FirstOrDefault, but throws an exception if there is more than one match |
| ElementAt, ElementAtOrDefault | Returns the element at the specified position |
| DefaultIfEmpty | Returns null or default(TSource) if the sequence has no elements |
Table 1-10. Aggregation operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Count, LongCount | Returns the total number of elements in the input sequence, or the number of elements satisfying a given predicate |
| Min, Max | Returns the smallest or largest element in the sequence |
| Sum, Average | Calculates a numeric sum or average over elements in the sequence |
| Aggregate | Performs a custom aggregation |
Table 1-11. Qualifiers |
|
| Method | Description |
| Contains | Returns true if the input sequence contains the given element |
| Any | Returns true if any elements satisfy the given predicate |
| All | Returns true if all elements satisfy the given predicate |
| SequenceEqual | Returns true if the second sequence has identical elements to the input sequence |
Table 1-12. Conversion operators (import) |
|
| Method | Description |
| OfType | Converts IEnumerable to IEnumerable<T>, discarding wrongly typed elements |
| Cast | Converts IEnumerable to IEnumerable<T>, throwing an exception if there are any wrongly typed elements |
Table 1-13. Table conversion operators (export) |
|
| Method | Description |
| ToArray | Converts IEnumerable<T> to T[] |
| ToList | Converts IEnumerable<T> to List<T> |
| ToDictionary | Converts IEnumerable<T> to Dictionary<TKey,TValue> |
| ToLookup | Converts IEnumerable<T> to ILookup<TKey,TElement> |
| AsEnumerable | Downcasts to IEnumerable<T> |
| AsQueryable | Casts or converts to IQueryable<T> |
Table 1-14. Generation operators |
|
| Method | Description |
| Empty | Creates an empty sequence |
| Repeat | Creates a sequence of repeating elements |
| Range | Creates a sequence of integers |
Chaining Query Operators
To build more complex queries, you chain query operators together. For example, the following query extracts all strings containing the letter a, sorts them by length, and then converts the results to uppercase:
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" }
IEnumerable<string> query = names
.Where (n => n.Contains ("a"))
.OrderBy (n => n.Length)
.Select (n => n.ToUpper( ));
foreach (string name in query)
Console.Write (name + "|");
// RESULT: JAY|MARY|HARRY|
Where, OrderBy, and Select are all standard query operators that resolve to extension methods in the Enumerable class. The Where operator emits a filtered version of the input sequence; OrderBy emits a sorted version of its input sequence; Select emits a sequence where each input element is transformed or projected with a given lambda expression (n.ToUpper( ), in this case). Data flows from left to right through the chain of operators, so the data is first filtered, then sorted, then projected. The end result resembles a production line of conveyor belts, as illustrated in Figure 1-6.
Figure 1-6. Chaining query operators
Deferred execution is honored throughout with operators, so no filtering, sorting, or projecting takes place until the query is actually enumerated.
Query Syntax
C# 3.0 provides special language support for writing queries, called query comprehension syntax or query syntax. Here’s the preceding query expressed in query syntax:
using System.Linq;
...
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" };
IEnumerable<string> query =
from n in names
where n.Contains ("a")
orderby n.Length
select n.ToUpper( );
A comprehension query always starts with a from clause and ends with either a select or group clause. The from clause declares an iteration variable (in this case, n) which you can think of as traversing the input collection—rather like foreach. Figure 1-7 illustrates the complete syntax.
The compiler processes comprehension queries by translating them to lambda syntax. It does this in a fairly mechanical fashion—much like it translates foreach statements into calls to GetEnumerator and MoveNext:
IEnumerable<string> query = names
.Where (n => n.Contains ("a"))
.OrderBy (n => n.Length)
.Select (n => n.ToUpper( ));.
Figure 1-7. Query comprehension syntax
The Where, OrderBy, and Select operators then resolve using the same rules that would apply if the query were written in lambda syntax. In this case, they bind to extension methods in the Enumerable class (assuming you’ve imported the System.Linq namespace) because names implements IEnumerable<string>. The compiler doesn’t specifically favor the Enumerable class, however, when translating query syntax. You can think of the compiler as mechanically injecting the words “Where,” “OrderBy,” and “Select” into the statement, and then compiling it as though you’d typed the method names yourself. This offers flexibility in how they resolve—the operators in LINQ to SQL queries, for instance, bind instead to the extension methods in the Queryable class.
Query syntax versus lambda syntax
Query syntax and lambda syntax each have advantages.
Query syntax supports only a small subset of query operators, namely:
Where, Select, SelectMany
OrderBy, ThenBy, OrderByDescending, ThenByDescending
Group, Join, GroupJoin
For queries that use other operators, you must either write entirely in lambda syntax or construct mixed-syntax queries, for instance:
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" };
IEnumerable<string> query =
from n in names
where n.Length == names.Min (n2 => n2.Length)
select n;
This query returns names whose length matches that of the shortest (“Tom” and “Jay”). The subquery (in bold) calculates the minimum length of each name, and evaluates to 3. We have to use lambda syntax for the subquery because the Min operator has no support in query syntax. We can, however, still use query syntax for the outer query.
The main advantage of query syntax is that it can radically simplify queries that involve the following:
- A let clause for introducing a new variable alongside the iteration variable
- Multiple generators (SelectMany) followed by an outer iteration variable reference
- A Join or GroupJoin equivalent, followed by an outer iteration variable reference
The let Keyword
The let keyword introduces a new variable alongside the iteration variable. For instance, suppose we want to list all names whose length without vowels is greater than two characters:
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" };
IEnumerable<string> query =
from n in names
let vowelless = Regex.Replace (n, "[aeiou]", "")
where vowelless.Length > 2
orderby vowelless
select n + " - " + vowelless;
The output from enumerating this query is:
Dick - Dck
Harry - Hrry
Mary - Mry
The let clause performs a calculation on each element, without losing the original element. In our query, the subsequent clauses (where, orderby, and select) have access to both n and vowelless. Queries can include any multiple let clauses, and they can be interspersed with additional where and join clauses.
The compiler translates the let keyword by projecting into a temporary anonymous type that contains both the original and transformed elements:
IEnumerable<string> query = names
.Select (n => new
{
n = n,
vowelless = Regex.Replace (n, "[aeiou]", "")
}
)
.Where (temp0 => (temp0.vowelless.Length > 2))
.OrderBy (temp0 => temp0.vowelless)
.Select (temp0 => ((temp0.n + " - ") + temp0.vowelless))
Query Continuations
If you want to add clauses after a select or group clause, you must use the into keyword to “continue” the query. For instance:
from c in "The quick brown tiger".Split( )
select c.ToUpper( )
into upper
where upper.StartsWith ("T")
select upper
// RESULT: "THE", "TIGER"
Following an into clause, the previous iteration variable is out of scope.
The compiler translates queries with an into keyword simply into a longer chain of lambda operators:
"The quick brown tiger".Split()
.Select (c => c.ToUpper())
.Where (upper => upper.StartsWith ("T"))
(It omits the final Select(upper=>upper), as it’s redundant.)
Multiple Generators
A query can include multiple generators (from clauses). For example:
int[] numbers = { 1, 2, 3 };
string[] letters = { "a", "b" };
IEnumerable<string> query = from n in numbers
from l in letters
select n.ToString( ) + l;
The result is a cross product, rather like you’d get with nested foreach loops:
"1a", "1b", "2a", "2b", "3a", "3b"
When there’s more than one from clause in a query, the compiler emits a call to SelectMany:
IEnumerable<string> query = numbers.SelectMany (
n => letters,
(n, l) => (n.ToString( ) + l));
SelectMany performs nested looping. It enumerates every element in the source collection (numbers), transforming each element with the first lambda expression (letters). This generates a sequence of subsequences, which it then enumerates. The final output elements are determined by the second lambda expression (n.ToString( )+l).
If you subsequently apply a where clause, you can filter the cross product and project a result akin to a join:
string[] players = { "Tom", "Jay", "Mary" };
IEnumerable<string> query =
from name1 in players
from name2 in players
where name1.CompareTo (name2) < 0
orderby name1, name2
select name1 + " vs " + name2;
RESULT: { "Jay vs Mary", "Jay vs Tom", "Mary vs Tom" }
The translation of this query into lambda syntax is considerably more complex, requiring a temporary anonymous projection. The ability to perform this translation automatically is one of the key benefits of query syntax.
The expression in the second generator is allowed to use the first iteration variable:
string[] fullNames =
{ "Anne Williams", "John Fred Smith", "Sue Green" };
IEnumerable<string> query =
from fullName in fullNames
from name in fullName.Split()
select name + " came from " + fullName;
Anne came from Anne Williams
Williams came from Anne Williams
John came from John Fred Smith
This works because the expression fullName.Split emits a sequence (an array of strings).
Multiple generators are used extensively in LINQ to SQL queries to flatten parent-child relationships and to perform manual joins.
Joining
LINQ provides joining operators for performing keyed lookup-based joins. The joining operators support only a subset of the functionality you get with multiple generators/SelectMany, but they are more performant with local queries because they use a hashtable-based lookup strategy rather than performing nested loops. (With LINQ to SQL queries, the joining operators have no advantage over multiple generators.)
The joining operators support equijoins only (i.e., the joining condition must use the equality operator). There are two methods: Join and GroupJoin. Join emits a flat result set, whereas GroupJoin emits a hierarchical result set.
The syntax for a flat join is:
from outer-var in outer-sequence
join inner-var in inner-sequence
on outer-key-expr equals inner-key-expr
For example, given the following collections:
var customers = new[]
{
new { ID = 1, Name = "Tom" },
new { ID = 2, Name = "Dick" },
new { ID = 3, Name = "Harry" }
};
var purchases = new[]
{
new { CustomerID = 1, Product = "House" },
new { CustomerID = 2, Product = "Boat" },
new { CustomerID = 2, Product = "Car" },
new { CustomerID = 3, Product = "Holiday" }
};
We could perform a join as follows:
IEnumerable<string> query =
from c in customers
join p in purchases on c.ID equals p.CustomerID
select c.Name + " bought a " + p.Product;
The compiler translates this to:
customers.Join ( // outer collection
purchases, // inner collection
c => c.ID, // outer key selector
p => p.CustomerID, // inner key selector
(c, p) => // result selector
c.Name + " bought a " + p.Product
);
Here’s the result:
Tom bought a House
Dick bought a Boat
Dick bought a Car
Harry bought a Holiday
With local sequences, the join operators are more efficient at processing large collections than SelectMany because they first preload the inner sequence into a keyed hashtable-based lookup. With a LINQ to SQL query, however, you could achieve the same result equally efficiently as follows:
from c in customers
from p in purchases
where c.ID == p.CustomerID
select c.Name + " bought a " + p.Product;
GroupJoin
GroupJoin does the same work as Join, but instead of yielding a flat result, it yields a hierarchical result, grouped by each outer element.
The comprehension syntax for GroupJoin is the same as for Join, but is followed by the into keyword. Here’s a basic example, using the customers and purchases collections we set up in the previous section:
IEnumerable<IEnumerable<Purchase>> query =
from c in customers
join p in purchases on c.ID equals p.CustomerID
into custPurchases
select custPurchases; // custPurchases is a sequence
An into clause translates to GroupJoin only when it appears directly after a join clause. After a select or group clause it means query continuation. The two uses of the into keyword are quite different, although they have one feature in common: they both introduce a new query variable.
The result is a sequence of sequences that we could enumerate as follows:
foreach (IEnumerable<Purchase> purchaseSequence in query)
foreach (Purchase p in purchaseSequence)
Console.WriteLine (p.Description);
This isn’t very useful, however, because outerSeq has no reference to the outer customer. More commonly, you’d reference the outer iteration variable in the projection:
from c in customers
join p in purchases on c.ID equals p.CustomerID
into custPurchases
select new { CustName = c.Name, custPurchases };
We could obtain the same result (but less efficiently, for local queries) by projecting into an anonymous type that included a subquery:
from c in customers
select new
{
CustName = c.Name,
custPurchases =
purchases.Where (p => c.ID == p.CustomerID)
}
Ordering
The orderby keyword sorts a sequence. You can specify any number of expressions upon which to sort:
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" };
IEnumerable<string> query = from n in names
orderby n.Length, n
select n;
This sort first by length, then name, so the result is:
Jay, Tom, Dick, Mary, Harry
The compiler translates the first orderby expression to a call to OrderBy, and subsequent expressions to a call to ThenBy:
IEnumerable<string> query = names
.OrderBy (n => n.Length)
.ThenBy (n => n)
The ThenBy operator refines rather than replaces the previous sorting.
You can include the descending keyword after any of the orderby expressions:
orderby n.Length descending, n
This translates to the following:
OrderByDescending (n => n.Length).ThenBy (n => n)
The ordering operators return an extended type of IEnumerable<T> called IOrderedEnumerble<T>. This interface defines the extra functionality required by the ThenBy operators.
Grouping
GroupBy organizes a flat input sequence into sequences of groups. For example, the following groups a sequence of names by their length:
string[] names = { "Tom","Dick","Harry","Mary","Jay" };
var query = from name in names
group name by name.Length;
The compiler translates this query into this:
IEnumerable<IGrouping<int,string>> query =
names.GroupBy (name => name.Length);
Here’s how to enumerate the result:
foreach (IGrouping<int,string> grouping in query)
{
Console.Write ("\r\n Length=" + grouping.Key + ":");
foreach (string name in grouping)
Console.Write (" " + name);
}
Length=3: Tom Jay
Length=4: Dick Mary
Length=5: Harry
Enumerable.GroupBy works by reading the input elements into a temporary dictionary of lists so that all elements with the same key end up in the same sublist. It then emits a sequence of groupings. A grouping is a sequence with a Key property:
public interface IGrouping <TKey,TElement>
: IEnumerable<TElement>, IEnumerable
{
// Key applies to the subsequence as a whole
TKey Key { get; }
}
By default, the elements in each grouping are untransformed input elements unless you specify an elementSelector argument. The following projects each input element to uppercase:
from name in names
group name.ToUpper() by name.Length
which translates to this:
names.GroupBy (
name => name.Length,
name => name.ToUpper() )
The subcollections are not emitted in order of key. GroupBy does no sorting (in fact, it preserves the original ordering.) To sort, you must add an OrderBy operator (which means first adding an into clause because group by ordinarily ends a query):
from name in names
group name.ToUpper() by name.Length
into grouping
orderby grouping.Key
select grouping
Query continuations are often used in a group by query. The next query filters out groups that have exactly two matches in them:
from name in names
group name.ToUpper() by name.Length
into grouping
where grouping.Count() == 2
select grouping
A where after a group by is equivalent to HAVING in SQL. It applies to each subsequence or grouping as a whole rather than the individual elements.
OfType and Cast
OfType and Cast accept a nongeneric IEnumerable collection and emit a generic IEnumerable<T> sequence that you can subsequently query:
var classicList = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
classicList.AddRange ( new int[] { 3, 4, 5 } );
IEnumerable<int> sequence1 = classicList.Cast<int>();
This is useful because it allows you to query collections written prior to C# 2.0 (when IEnumerable<T> was introduced), such as ControlCollection in System.Windows.Forms.
Cast and OfType differ in their behavior when encountering an input element that’s of an incompatible type: Cast throws an exception, whereas OfType ignores the incompatible element.
The rules for element compatiblity follow those of C#’s is operator. Here’s the internal implementation of Cast:
public static IEnumerable<TSource> Cast <TSource>
(IEnumerable source)
{
foreach (object element in source)
yield return (TSource)element;
}
C# supports the Cast operator in query syntax. Simply insert the element type immediately after the from keyword:
from int x in classicList
...
This translates to the following:
from x in classicList.Cast <int>()
...
