Enumerable.FirstOrDefault(Of TSource) Method (IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, Boolean))

.NET Framework (current version)
 

Returns the first element of the sequence that satisfies a condition or a default value if no such element is found.

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

C#
C++
F#
VB
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<ExtensionAttribute>
Public Shared Function FirstOrDefault(Of TSource) (
	source As IEnumerable(Of TSource),
	predicate As Func(Of TSource, Boolean)
) As TSource

Parameters

source
Type: System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable(Of TSource)

An IEnumerable(Of T) to return an element from.

predicate
Type: System.Func(Of TSource, Boolean)

A function to test each element for a condition.

Return Value

Type: TSource

default(TSource) if source is empty or if no element passes the test specified by predicate; otherwise, the first element in source that passes the test specified by predicate.

Type Parameters

TSource

The type of the elements of source.

Exception Condition
ArgumentNullException

source or predicate is null.

The default value for reference and nullable types is null.

The following code example demonstrates how to use FirstOrDefault(Of TSource)(IEnumerable(Of TSource), Func(Of TSource, Boolean)) by passing in a predicate. In the second call to the method, there is no element in the array that satisfies the condition.

C#
VB
Copy 
' Create an array of strings.
Dim names() As String =
{"Hartono, Tommy", "Adams, Terry", "Andersen, Henriette Thaulow", "Hedlund, Magnus", "Ito, Shu"}

' Select the first string in the array whose length is greater than 20.
Dim firstLongName As String =
names.FirstOrDefault(Function(name) name.Length > 20)

' Display the output.
MsgBox("The first long name is " & firstLongName)

' Select the first string in the array whose length is greater than 30,
' or a default value if there are no such strings in the array.
Dim firstVeryLongName As String =
names.FirstOrDefault(Function(name) name.Length > 30)

Dim text As String = IIf(String.IsNullOrEmpty(firstVeryLongName), "not a", "a")

MsgBox("There is " & text & " name longer than 30 characters.")

' This code produces the following output:
'
' The first long name is Andersen, Henriette Thaulow
'
' There is not a name longer than 30 characters.

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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