Enumerable.Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) Method (IEnumerable(Of TOuter), IEnumerable(Of TInner), Func(Of TOuter, TKey), Func(Of TInner, TKey), Func(Of TOuter, TInner, TResult))

.NET Framework (current version)
 

Correlates the elements of two sequences based on matching keys. The default equality comparer is used to compare keys.

Namespace:   System.Linq
Assembly:  System.Core (in System.Core.dll)

C#
C++
F#
VB
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<ExtensionAttribute>
Public Shared Function Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) (
	outer As IEnumerable(Of TOuter),
	inner As IEnumerable(Of TInner),
	outerKeySelector As Func(Of TOuter, TKey),
	innerKeySelector As Func(Of TInner, TKey),
	resultSelector As Func(Of TOuter, TInner, TResult)
) As IEnumerable(Of TResult)

Parameters

outer
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TOuter)

The first sequence to join.

inner
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TInner)

The sequence to join to the first sequence.

outerKeySelector
Type: System.Func(Of TOuter, TKey)

A function to extract the join key from each element of the first sequence.

innerKeySelector
Type: System.Func(Of TInner, TKey)

A function to extract the join key from each element of the second sequence.

resultSelector
Type: System.Func(Of TOuter, TInner, TResult)

A function to create a result element from two matching elements.

Return Value

Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TResult)

An IEnumerable(Of T) that has elements of type TResult that are obtained by performing an inner join on two sequences.

Type Parameters

TOuter

The type of the elements of the first sequence.

TInner

The type of the elements of the second sequence.

TKey

The type of the keys returned by the key selector functions.

TResult

The type of the result elements.

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

outer or inner or outerKeySelector or innerKeySelector or resultSelector is null.

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 default equality comparer, Default, is used to hash and compare keys.

A join refers to the operation of correlating the elements of two sources of information based on a common key. Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) brings the two information sources and the keys by which they are matched together in one method call. This differs from the use of SelectMany, which requires more than one method call to perform the same operation.

Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) preserves the order of the elements of outer, and for each of these elements, the order of the matching elements of inner.

In query expression syntax, a join (Visual C#) or Join (Visual Basic) clause translates to an invocation of Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult).

In relational database terms, the Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) method implements an inner equijoin. 'Inner' means that only elements that have a match in the other sequence are included in the results. An 'equijoin' is a join in which the keys are compared for equality. A left outer join operation has no dedicated standard query operator, but can be performed by using the GroupJoin(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult) method. See Join Operations.

The following code example demonstrates how to use Join(Of TOuter, TInner, TKey, TResult)(IEnumerable(Of TOuter), IEnumerable(Of TInner), Func(Of TOuter, TKey), Func(Of TInner, TKey), Func(Of TOuter, TInner, TResult)) to perform an inner join of two sequences based on a common key.

C#
VB
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Structure Person
    Public Name As String
End Structure

Structure Pet
    Public Name As String
    Public Owner As Person
End Structure

Sub JoinEx1()
    Dim magnus As New Person With {.Name = "Hedlund, Magnus"}
    Dim terry As New Person With {.Name = "Adams, Terry"}
    Dim charlotte As New Person With {.Name = "Weiss, Charlotte"}

    Dim barley As New Pet With {.Name = "Barley", .Owner = terry}
    Dim boots As New Pet With {.Name = "Boots", .Owner = terry}
    Dim whiskers As New Pet With {.Name = "Whiskers", .Owner = charlotte}
    Dim daisy As New Pet With {.Name = "Daisy", .Owner = magnus}

    Dim people As New List(Of Person)(New Person() {magnus, terry, charlotte})
    Dim pets As New List(Of Pet)(New Pet() {barley, boots, whiskers, daisy})

    ' Create a list of Person-Pet pairs, where each element is an
    ' anonymous type that contains a Pet's name and the name of the 
    ' Person that owns the Pet.
    Dim query =
people.Join(pets,
            Function(person) person,
            Function(pet) pet.Owner,
            Function(person, pet) _
                New With {.OwnerName = person.Name, .Pet = pet.Name})

    Dim output As New System.Text.StringBuilder
    For Each obj In query
        output.AppendLine(obj.OwnerName & " - " & obj.Pet)
    Next

    ' Display the output.
    MsgBox(output.ToString)
End Sub

' This code produces the following output:
'
' Hedlund, Magnus - Daisy
' Adams, Terry - Barley
' Adams, Terry - Boots
' Weiss, Charlotte - Whiskers

Universal Windows Platform
Available since 8
.NET Framework
Available since 3.5
Portable Class Library
Supported in: portable .NET platforms
Silverlight
Available since 2.0
Windows Phone Silverlight
Available since 7.0
Windows Phone
Available since 8.1
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