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Group query results

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Grouping is one of the most powerful capabilities of LINQ. The following examples show how to group data in various ways:

  • By a single property.

  • By the first letter of a string property.

  • By a computed numeric range.

  • By Boolean predicate or other expression.

  • By a compound key.

In addition, the last two queries project their results into a new anonymous type that contains only the student's first and last name. For more information, see the group clause.

Note

The examples in this topic use the Student class and students list from the sample code in Query a collection of objects.

Group by single property example

The following example shows how to group source elements by using a single property of the element as the group key. In this case the key is a string, the student's last name. It is also possible to use a substring for the key; see the next example. The grouping operation uses the default equality comparer for the type.

// Variable groupByLastNamesQuery is an IEnumerable<IGrouping<string,
// DataClass.Student>>.
var groupByLastNamesQuery =
    from student in students
    group student by student.LastName into newGroup
    orderby newGroup.Key
    select newGroup;

foreach (var nameGroup in groupByLastNamesQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Key: {nameGroup.Key}");
    foreach (var student in nameGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{student.LastName}, {student.FirstName}");
    }
}

/* Output:
    Key: Adams
            Adams, Terry
    Key: Fakhouri
            Fakhouri, Fadi
    Key: Feng
            Feng, Hanying
    Key: Garcia
            Garcia, Cesar
            Garcia, Debra
            Garcia, Hugo
    Key: Mortensen
            Mortensen, Sven
    Key: O'Donnell
            O'Donnell, Claire
    Key: Omelchenko
            Omelchenko, Svetlana
    Key: Tucker
            Tucker, Lance
            Tucker, Michael
    Key: Zabokritski
            Zabokritski, Eugene
*/

Group by value example

The following example shows how to group source elements by using something other than a property of the object for the group key. In this example, the key is the first letter of the student's last name.

var groupByFirstLetterQuery =
    from student in students
    group student by student.LastName[0];

foreach (var studentGroup in groupByFirstLetterQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Key: {studentGroup.Key}");
    // Nested foreach is required to access group items.
    foreach (var student in studentGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{student.LastName}, {student.FirstName}");
    }
}

/* Output:
    Key: A
            Adams, Terry
    Key: F
            Fakhouri, Fadi
            Feng, Hanying
    Key: G
            Garcia, Cesar
            Garcia, Debra
            Garcia, Hugo
    Key: M
            Mortensen, Sven
    Key: O
            O'Donnell, Claire
            Omelchenko, Svetlana
    Key: T
            Tucker, Lance
            Tucker, Michael
    Key: Z
            Zabokritski, Eugene
*/

Group by a range example

The following example shows how to group source elements by using a numeric range as a group key. The query then projects the results into an anonymous type that contains only the first and last name and the percentile range to which the student belongs. An anonymous type is used because it is not necessary to use the complete Student object to display the results. GetPercentile is a helper function that calculates a percentile based on the student's average score. The method returns an integer between 0 and 10.

int GetPercentile(Student s)
{
    double avg = s.ExamScores.Average();
    return avg > 0 ? (int)avg / 10 : 0;
}

var groupByPercentileQuery =
    from student in students
    let percentile = GetPercentile(student)
    group new
    {
        student.FirstName,
        student.LastName
    } by percentile into percentGroup
    orderby percentGroup.Key
    select percentGroup;

// Nested foreach required to iterate over groups and group items.
foreach (var studentGroup in groupByPercentileQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Key: {studentGroup.Key * 10}");
    foreach (var item in studentGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{item.LastName}, {item.FirstName}");
    }
}

/* Output:
    Key: 60
            Garcia, Debra
    Key: 70
            O'Donnell, Claire
    Key: 80
            Adams, Terry
            Feng, Hanying
            Garcia, Cesar
            Garcia, Hugo
            Mortensen, Sven
            Omelchenko, Svetlana
            Tucker, Lance
            Zabokritski, Eugene
    Key: 90
            Fakhouri, Fadi
            Tucker, Michael
*/

Group by comparison example

The following example shows how to group source elements by using a Boolean comparison expression. In this example, the Boolean expression tests whether a student's average exam score is greater than 75. As in previous examples, the results are projected into an anonymous type because the complete source element is not needed. Note that the properties in the anonymous type become properties on the Key member and can be accessed by name when the query is executed.

var groupByHighAverageQuery =
    from student in students
    group new
    {
        student.FirstName,
        student.LastName
    } by student.ExamScores.Average() > 75 into studentGroup
    select studentGroup;

foreach (var studentGroup in groupByHighAverageQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Key: {studentGroup.Key}");
    foreach (var student in studentGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{student.FirstName} {student.LastName}");
    }
}

/* Output:
    Key: True
            Terry Adams
            Fadi Fakhouri
            Hanying Feng
            Cesar Garcia
            Hugo Garcia
            Sven Mortensen
            Svetlana Omelchenko
            Lance Tucker
            Michael Tucker
            Eugene Zabokritski
    Key: False
            Debra Garcia
            Claire O'Donnell
*/

Group by anonymous type

The following example shows how to use an anonymous type to encapsulate a key that contains multiple values. In this example, the first key value is the first letter of the student's last name. The second key value is a Boolean that specifies whether the student scored over 85 on the first exam. You can order the groups by any property in the key.

var groupByCompoundKey =
    from student in students
    group student by new
    {
        FirstLetter = student.LastName[0],
        IsScoreOver85 = student.ExamScores[0] > 85
    } into studentGroup
    orderby studentGroup.Key.FirstLetter
    select studentGroup;

foreach (var scoreGroup in groupByCompoundKey)
{
    string s = scoreGroup.Key.IsScoreOver85 == true ? "more than 85" : "less than 85";
    Console.WriteLine($"Name starts with {scoreGroup.Key.FirstLetter} who scored {s}");
    foreach (var item in scoreGroup)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{item.FirstName} {item.LastName}");
    }
}

/* Output:
    Name starts with A who scored more than 85
            Terry Adams
    Name starts with F who scored more than 85
            Fadi Fakhouri
            Hanying Feng
    Name starts with G who scored more than 85
            Cesar Garcia
            Hugo Garcia
    Name starts with G who scored less than 85
            Debra Garcia
    Name starts with M who scored more than 85
            Sven Mortensen
    Name starts with O who scored less than 85
            Claire O'Donnell
    Name starts with O who scored more than 85
            Svetlana Omelchenko
    Name starts with T who scored less than 85
            Lance Tucker
    Name starts with T who scored more than 85
            Michael Tucker
    Name starts with Z who scored more than 85
            Eugene Zabokritski
*/

See also