Enumerable.SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult) Method (IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult)))
Projects each element of a sequence to an IEnumerable(Of T) and flattens the resulting sequences into one sequence.
Assembly: System.Core (in System.Core.dll)
'Declaration <ExtensionAttribute> _ Public Shared Function SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult) ( _ source As IEnumerable(Of TSource), _ selector As Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult)) _ ) As IEnumerable(Of TResult) 'Usage Dim source As IEnumerable(Of TSource) Dim selector As Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult)) Dim returnValue As IEnumerable(Of TResult) returnValue = source.SelectMany(selector)
Type Parameters
- TSource
The type of the elements of source.
- TResult
The type of the elements of the sequence returned by selector.
Parameters
- source
- Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TSource)
A sequence of values to project.
- selector
- Type: System.Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult))
A transform function to apply to each element.
Return Value
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TResult)An IEnumerable(Of T) whose elements are the result of invoking the one-to-many transform function on each element of the input sequence.
Usage Note
In Visual Basic and C#, you can call this method as an instance method on any object of type IEnumerable(Of TSource). When you use instance method syntax to call this method, omit the first parameter. For more information, see Extension Methods (Visual Basic) or Extension Methods (C# Programming Guide).| Exception | Condition |
|---|---|
| ArgumentNullException | source or selector is Nothing. |
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 Visual C# or For Each in Visual Basic.
The SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult)(IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult))) method enumerates the input sequence, uses a transform function to map each element to an IEnumerable(Of T), and then enumerates and yields the elements of each such IEnumerable(Of T) object. That is, for each element of source, selector is invoked and a sequence of values is returned. SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult)(IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult))) then flattens this two-dimensional collection of collections into a one-dimensional IEnumerable(Of T) and returns it. For example, if a query uses SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult)(IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of 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 (Visual C#) or From clause (Visual Basic) after the initial one translates to an invocation of SelectMany.
The following code example demonstrates how to use SelectMany(Of TSource, TResult)(IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, IEnumerable(Of TResult))) to perform a one-to-many projection over an array.
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. MsgBox(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
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune
The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.