Group Elements in a Sequence

The GroupBy operator groups the elements of a sequence. The following examples use the Northwind database.

Note

Null column values in GroupBy queries can sometimes throw an InvalidOperationException. For more information, see the "GroupBy InvalidOperationException" section of Troubleshooting.

Example 1

The following example partitions Products by CategoryID.

C#

IQueryable<IGrouping<Int32?, Product>> prodQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by prod.CategoryID into grouping
    select grouping;

foreach (IGrouping<Int32?, Product> grp in prodQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"\nCategoryID Key = {grp.Key}:");
    foreach (Product listing in grp)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{listing.ProductName}");
    }
}

Example 2

The following example uses Max to find the maximum unit price for each CategoryID.

C#

var q =
    from p in db.Products
    group p by p.CategoryID into g
    select new
    {
        g.Key,
        MaxPrice = g.Max(p => p.UnitPrice)
    };

Example 3

The following example uses Average to find the average UnitPrice for each CategoryID.

C#

var q2 =
    from p in db.Products
    group p by p.CategoryID into g
    select new
    {
        g.Key,
        AveragePrice = g.Average(p => p.UnitPrice)
    };

Example 4

The following example uses Sum to find the total UnitPrice for each CategoryID.

C#

var priceQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by prod.CategoryID into grouping
    select new
    {
        grouping.Key,
        TotalPrice = grouping.Sum(p => p.UnitPrice)
    };

foreach (var grp in priceQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Category = {0}, Total price = {1}",
        grp.Key, grp.TotalPrice);
}

Example 5

The following example uses Count to find the number of discontinued Products in each CategoryID.

C#

var disconQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by prod.CategoryID into grouping
    select new
    {
        grouping.Key,
        NumProducts = grouping.Count(p => p.Discontinued)
    };

foreach (var prodObj in disconQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine("CategoryID = {0}, Discontinued# = {1}",
        prodObj.Key, prodObj.NumProducts);
}

Example 6

The following example uses a following where clause to find all categories that have at least 10 products.

C#

var prodCountQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by prod.CategoryID into grouping
    where grouping.Count() >= 10
    select new
    {
        grouping.Key,
        ProductCount = grouping.Count()
    };

foreach (var prodCount in prodCountQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine("CategoryID = {0}, Product count = {1}",
        prodCount.Key, prodCount.ProductCount);
}

Example 7

The following example groups products by CategoryID and SupplierID.

C#

var prodQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by new
    {
        prod.CategoryID,
        prod.SupplierID
    }
    into grouping
    select new { grouping.Key, grouping };

foreach (var grp in prodQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine("\nCategoryID {0}, SupplierID {1}",
        grp.Key.CategoryID, grp.Key.SupplierID);
    foreach (var listing in grp.grouping)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{listing.ProductName}");
    }
}

Example 8

The following example returns two sequences of products. The first sequence contains products with unit price less than or equal to 10. The second sequence contains products with unit price greater than 10.

C#

var priceQuery =
    from prod in db.Products
    group prod by new
    {
        Criterion = prod.UnitPrice > 10
    }
    into grouping
    select grouping;

foreach (var prodObj in priceQuery)
{
    if (prodObj.Key.Criterion == false)
        Console.WriteLine("Prices 10 or less:");
    else
        Console.WriteLine("\nPrices greater than 10");
    foreach (var listing in prodObj)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("{0}, {1}", listing.ProductName,
            listing.UnitPrice);
    }
}

Example

The GroupBy operator can take only a single key argument. If you need to group by more than one key, you must create an anonymous type, as in the following example:

C#

var custRegionQuery =
    from cust in db.Customers
    group cust.ContactName by new { City = cust.City, Region = cust.Region };

foreach (var grp in custRegionQuery)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"\nLocation Key: {grp.Key}");
    foreach (var listing in grp)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"\t{listing}");
    }
}

See also

• Query Examples
• Downloading Sample Databases