Enumerable.SelectMany Method

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.Linq

Assembly:: System.Linq.dll

Assembly:: System.Core.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T> and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence.

Overloads

SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)	Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence, and invokes a result selector function on each element therein.
SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)	Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence, and invokes a result selector function on each element therein. The index of each source element is used in the intermediate projected form of that element.
SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>)	Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T> and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence.
SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>)	Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence. The index of each source element is used in the projected form of that element.

SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence, and invokes a result selector function on each element therein.

public:
generic <typename TSource, typename TCollection, typename TResult>
[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^ SelectMany(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TSource> ^ source, Func<TSource, System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TCollection> ^> ^ collectionSelector, Func<TSource, TCollection, TResult> ^ resultSelector);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult> SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult> (this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource,System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TCollection>> collectionSelector, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult> resultSelector);

static member SelectMany : seq<'Source> * Func<'Source, seq<'Collection>> * Func<'Source, 'Collection, 'Result> -> seq<'Result>

<Extension()>
Public Function SelectMany(Of TSource, TCollection, TResult) (source As IEnumerable(Of TSource), collectionSelector As Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TCollection)), resultSelector As Func(Of TSource, TCollection, TResult)) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

Type Parameters

TSource

The type of the elements of source.

TCollection

The type of the intermediate elements collected by collectionSelector.

TResult

The type of the elements of the resulting sequence.

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<TSource>

A sequence of values to project.

collectionSelector: Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>

A transform function to apply to each element of the input sequence.

resultSelector: Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>

A transform function to apply to each element of the intermediate sequence.

Returns

IEnumerable<TResult>

An IEnumerable<T> whose elements are the result of invoking the one-to-many transform function collectionSelector on each element of source and then mapping each of those sequence elements and their corresponding source element to a result element.

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

source or collectionSelector or resultSelector is null.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>) to perform a one-to-many projection over an array and use a result selector function to keep each corresponding element from the source sequence in scope for the final call to Select.

class PetOwner
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<string> Pets { get; set; }
}

public static void SelectManyEx3()
{
    PetOwner[] petOwners =
        { new PetOwner { Name="Higa",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scruffy", "Sam" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Ashkenazi",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Walker", "Sugar" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Price",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scratches", "Diesel" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Hines",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Dusty" } } };

    // Project the pet owner's name and the pet's name.
    var query =
        petOwners
        .SelectMany(petOwner => petOwner.Pets, (petOwner, petName) => new { petOwner, petName })
        .Where(ownerAndPet => ownerAndPet.petName.StartsWith("S"))
        .Select(ownerAndPet =>
                new
                {
                    Owner = ownerAndPet.petOwner.Name,
                    Pet = ownerAndPet.petName
                }
        );

    // Print the results.
    foreach (var obj in query)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(obj);
    }
}

// This code produces the following output:
//
// {Owner=Higa, Pet=Scruffy}
// {Owner=Higa, Pet=Sam}
// {Owner=Ashkenazi, Pet=Sugar}
// {Owner=Price, Pet=Scratches}

Structure PetOwner
    Public Name As String
    Public Pets() As String
End Structure

Sub SelectManyEx3()
    ' Create an array of PetOwner objects.
    Dim petOwners() As PetOwner =
{New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Higa", .Pets = New String() {"Scruffy", "Sam"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Ashkenazi", .Pets = New String() {"Walker", "Sugar"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Price", .Pets = New String() {"Scratches", "Diesel"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Hines", .Pets = New String() {"Dusty"}}}

    ' Project an anonymous type that consists of
    ' the owner's name and the pet's name (string).
    Dim query =
petOwners _
.SelectMany(
    Function(petOwner) petOwner.Pets,
    Function(petOwner, petName) New With {petOwner, petName}) _
.Where(Function(ownerAndPet) ownerAndPet.petName.StartsWith("S")) _
.Select(Function(ownerAndPet) _
       New With {.Owner = ownerAndPet.petOwner.Name,
                 .Pet = ownerAndPet.petName
       })

    Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder
    For Each obj In query
        output.AppendLine(String.Format("Owner={0}, Pet={1}", obj.Owner, obj.Pet))
    Next

    ' Display the output.
    Console.WriteLine(output.ToString())
End Sub

' This code produces the following output:
'
' Owner=Higa, Pet=Scruffy
' Owner=Higa, Pet=Sam
' Owner=Ashkenazi, Pet=Sugar
' Owner=Price, Pet=Scratches

Remarks

This method is implemented by using deferred execution. The immediate return value is an object that stores all the information that is required to perform the action. The query represented by this method is not executed until the object is enumerated either by calling its GetEnumerator method directly or by using foreach in C# or For Each in Visual Basic.

The SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>) method is useful when you have to keep the elements of source in scope for query logic that occurs after the call to SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>). See the Example section for a code example. If there is a bidirectional relationship between objects of type TSource and objects of type TCollection, that is, if an object of type TCollection provides a property to retrieve the TSource object that produced it, you do not need this overload of SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>). Instead, you can use SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>) and navigate back to the TSource object through the TCollection object.

In query expression syntax, each from clause (C#) or From clause (Visual Basic) after the initial one translates to an invocation of SelectMany.

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence, and invokes a result selector function on each element therein. The index of each source element is used in the intermediate projected form of that element.

public:
generic <typename TSource, typename TCollection, typename TResult>
[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^ SelectMany(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TSource> ^ source, Func<TSource, int, System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TCollection> ^> ^ collectionSelector, Func<TSource, TCollection, TResult> ^ resultSelector);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult> SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult> (this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource,int,System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TCollection>> collectionSelector, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult> resultSelector);

static member SelectMany : seq<'Source> * Func<'Source, int, seq<'Collection>> * Func<'Source, 'Collection, 'Result> -> seq<'Result>

<Extension()>
Public Function SelectMany(Of TSource, TCollection, TResult) (source As IEnumerable(Of TSource), collectionSelector As Func(Of TSource, Integer, IEnumerable(Of TCollection)), resultSelector As Func(Of TSource, TCollection, TResult)) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

Type Parameters

TSource

The type of the elements of source.

TCollection

The type of the intermediate elements collected by collectionSelector.

TResult

The type of the elements of the resulting sequence.

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<TSource>

A sequence of values to project.

collectionSelector: Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>

A transform function to apply to each source element; the second parameter of the function represents the index of the source element.

resultSelector: Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>

A transform function to apply to each element of the intermediate sequence.

Returns

IEnumerable<TResult>

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

source or collectionSelector or resultSelector is null.

Remarks

The SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>) method is useful when you have to keep the elements of source in scope for query logic that occurs after the call to SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>). See the Example section for a code example. If there is a bidirectional relationship between objects of type TSource and objects of type TCollection, that is, if an object of type TCollection provides a property to retrieve the TSource object that produced it, you do not need this overload of SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>). Instead, you can use SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>) and navigate back to the TSource object through the TCollection object.

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>)

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T> and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence.

public:
generic <typename TSource, typename TResult>
[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^ SelectMany(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TSource> ^ source, Func<TSource, System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^> ^ selector);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult> SelectMany<TSource,TResult> (this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource,System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult>> selector);

static member SelectMany : seq<'Source> * Func<'Source, seq<'Result>> -> seq<'Result>

<Extension()>
Public Function SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult) (source As IEnumerable(Of TSource), selector As Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult))) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

Type Parameters

TSource

The type of the elements of source.

TResult

The type of the elements of the sequence returned by selector.

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<TSource>

A sequence of values to project.

selector: Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>

A transform function to apply to each element.

Returns

IEnumerable<TResult>

An IEnumerable<T> whose elements are the result of invoking the one-to-many transform function on each element of the input sequence.

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

source or selector is null.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>) to perform a one-to-many projection over an array.

class PetOwner
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<String> Pets { get; set; }
}

public static void SelectManyEx1()
{
    PetOwner[] petOwners =
        { new PetOwner { Name="Higa, Sidney",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scruffy", "Sam" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Ashkenazi, Ronen",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Walker", "Sugar" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Price, Vernette",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scratches", "Diesel" } } };

    // Query using SelectMany().
    IEnumerable<string> query1 = petOwners.SelectMany(petOwner => petOwner.Pets);

    Console.WriteLine("Using SelectMany():");

    // Only one foreach loop is required to iterate
    // through the results since it is a
    // one-dimensional collection.
    foreach (string pet in query1)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(pet);
    }

    // This code shows how to use Select()
    // instead of SelectMany().
    IEnumerable<List<String>> query2 =
        petOwners.Select(petOwner => petOwner.Pets);

    Console.WriteLine("\nUsing Select():");

    // Notice that two foreach loops are required to
    // iterate through the results
    // because the query returns a collection of arrays.
    foreach (List<String> petList in query2)
    {
        foreach (string pet in petList)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(pet);
        }
        Console.WriteLine();
    }
}

/*
 This code produces the following output:

 Using SelectMany():
 Scruffy
 Sam
 Walker
 Sugar
 Scratches
 Diesel

 Using Select():
 Scruffy
 Sam

 Walker
 Sugar

 Scratches
 Diesel
*/

Structure PetOwner
    Public Name As String
    Public Pets() As String
End Structure

Sub SelectManyEx1()
    ' Create an array of PetOwner objects.
    Dim petOwners() As PetOwner =
{New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Higa, Sidney", .Pets = New String() {"Scruffy", "Sam"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Ashkenazi, Ronen", .Pets = New String() {"Walker", "Sugar"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Price, Vernette", .Pets = New String() {"Scratches", "Diesel"}}}

    ' Call SelectMany() to gather all pets into a "flat" sequence.
    Dim query1 As IEnumerable(Of String) =
petOwners.SelectMany(Function(petOwner) petOwner.Pets)

    Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder("Using SelectMany():" & vbCrLf)
    ' Only one foreach loop is required to iterate through
    ' the results because it is a one-dimensional collection.
    For Each pet As String In query1
        output.AppendLine(pet)
    Next

    ' This code demonstrates how to use Select() instead
    ' of SelectMany() to get the same result.
    Dim query2 As IEnumerable(Of String()) =
petOwners.Select(Function(petOwner) petOwner.Pets)
    output.AppendLine(vbCrLf & "Using Select():")
    ' Notice that two foreach loops are required to iterate through
    ' the results because the query returns a collection of arrays.
    For Each petArray() As String In query2
        For Each pet As String In petArray
            output.AppendLine(pet)
        Next
    Next

    ' Display the output.
    Console.WriteLine(output.ToString())
End Sub

' This code produces the following output:
'
' Using SelectMany():
' Scruffy
' Sam
' Walker
' Sugar
' Scratches
' Diesel
'
' Using Select():
' Scruffy
' Sam
' Walker
' Sugar
' Scratches
' Diesel

Remarks

The SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>) method enumerates the input sequence, uses a transform function to map each element to an IEnumerable<T>, and then enumerates and yields the elements of each such IEnumerable<T> object. That is, for each element of source, selector is invoked and a sequence of values is returned. SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>) then flattens this two-dimensional collection of collections into a one-dimensional IEnumerable<T> and returns it. For example, if a query uses SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>) to obtain the orders (of type Order) for each customer in a database, the result is of type IEnumerable<Order> in C# or IEnumerable(Of Order) in Visual Basic. If instead the query uses Select to obtain the orders, the collection of collections of orders is not combined and the result is of type IEnumerable<List<Order>> in C# or IEnumerable(Of List(Of Order)) in Visual Basic.

In query expression syntax, each from clause (C#) or From clause (Visual Basic) after the initial one translates to an invocation of SelectMany.

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>)

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Source:: SelectMany.cs

Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable<T>, and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence. The index of each source element is used in the projected form of that element.

public:
generic <typename TSource, typename TResult>
[System::Runtime::CompilerServices::Extension]
 static System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^ SelectMany(System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TSource> ^ source, Func<TSource, int, System::Collections::Generic::IEnumerable<TResult> ^> ^ selector);

public static System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult> SelectMany<TSource,TResult> (this System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource,int,System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult>> selector);

static member SelectMany : seq<'Source> * Func<'Source, int, seq<'Result>> -> seq<'Result>

<Extension()>
Public Function SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult) (source As IEnumerable(Of TSource), selector As Func(Of TSource, Integer, IEnumerable(Of TResult))) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

Type Parameters

TSource

The type of the elements of source.

TResult

The type of the elements of the sequence returned by selector.

Parameters

source: IEnumerable<TSource>

A sequence of values to project.

selector: Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>

A transform function to apply to each source element; the second parameter of the function represents the index of the source element.

Returns

IEnumerable<TResult>

An IEnumerable<T> whose elements are the result of invoking the one-to-many transform function on each element of an input sequence.

Exceptions

ArgumentNullException

source or selector is null.

Examples

The following code example demonstrates how to use SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>) to perform a one-to-many projection over an array and use the index of each outer element.

class PetOwner
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<string> Pets { get; set; }
}

public static void SelectManyEx2()
{
    PetOwner[] petOwners =
        { new PetOwner { Name="Higa, Sidney",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scruffy", "Sam" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Ashkenazi, Ronen",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Walker", "Sugar" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Price, Vernette",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scratches", "Diesel" } },
          new PetOwner { Name="Hines, Patrick",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Dusty" } } };

    // Project the items in the array by appending the index
    // of each PetOwner to each pet's name in that petOwner's
    // array of pets.
    IEnumerable<string> query =
        petOwners.SelectMany((petOwner, index) =>
                                 petOwner.Pets.Select(pet => index + pet));

    foreach (string pet in query)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(pet);
    }
}

// This code produces the following output:
//
// 0Scruffy
// 0Sam
// 1Walker
// 1Sugar
// 2Scratches
// 2Diesel
// 3Dusty

Structure PetOwner
    Public Name As String
    Public Pets() As String
End Structure

Sub SelectManyEx2()
    ' Create an array of PetOwner objects.
    Dim petOwners() As PetOwner =
{New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Higa, Sidney", .Pets = New String() {"Scruffy", "Sam"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Ashkenazi, Ronen", .Pets = New String() {"Walker", "Sugar"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Price, Vernette", .Pets = New String() {"Scratches", "Diesel"}},
 New PetOwner With
 {.Name = "Hines, Patrick", .Pets = New String() {"Dusty"}}}

    ' Project the items in the array by appending the index
    ' of each PetOwner to each pet's name in that petOwner's
    ' array of pets.
    Dim query As IEnumerable(Of String) =
petOwners.SelectMany(Function(petOwner, index) _
                         petOwner.Pets.Select(Function(pet) _
                                                  index.ToString() + pet))

    Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder
    For Each pet As String In query
        output.AppendLine(pet)
    Next

    ' Display the output.
    Console.WriteLine(output.ToString())
End Sub

Remarks

The SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>) method enumerates the input sequence, uses a transform function to map each element to an IEnumerable<T>, and then enumerates and yields the elements of each such IEnumerable<T> object. That is, for each element of source, selector is invoked and a sequence of values is returned. SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>) then flattens this two-dimensional collection of collections into a one-dimensional IEnumerable<T> and returns it. For example, if a query uses SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>) to obtain the orders (of type Order) for each customer in a database, the result is of type IEnumerable<Order> in C# or IEnumerable(Of Order) in Visual Basic. If instead the query uses Select to obtain the orders, the collection of collections of orders is not combined and the result is of type IEnumerable<List<Order>> in C# or IEnumerable(Of List(Of Order)) in Visual Basic.

The first argument to selector represents the element to process. The second argument to selector represents the zero-based index of that element in the source sequence. This can be useful if the elements are in a known order and you want to do something with an element at a particular index, for example. It can also be useful if you want to retrieve the index of one or more elements.

Applies to

Share via

Enumerable.SelectMany Method

Definition

Overloads

SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)

Type Parameters

Parameters

Returns

Exceptions

Examples

Remarks

See also

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TCollection,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TCollection>>, Func<TSource,TCollection,TResult>)

Type Parameters

Parameters

Returns

Exceptions

Remarks

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,IEnumerable<TResult>>)

Type Parameters

Parameters

Returns

Exceptions

Examples

Remarks

See also

Applies to

SelectMany<TSource,TResult>(IEnumerable<TSource>, Func<TSource,Int32,IEnumerable<TResult>>)

Type Parameters

Parameters

Returns

Exceptions

Examples

Remarks

Applies to

Aanvullende resources