[c#] Group by in LINQ

Let's suppose if we have a class like:

class Person { 
    internal int PersonID; 
    internal string car; 
}

I have a list of this class: List<Person> persons;

And this list can have multiple instances with same PersonIDs, for example:

persons[0] = new Person { PersonID = 1, car = "Ferrari" }; 
persons[1] = new Person { PersonID = 1, car = "BMW"     }; 
persons[2] = new Person { PersonID = 2, car = "Audi"    }; 

Is there a way I can group by PersonID and get the list of all the cars he has?

For example, the expected result would be

class Result { 
   int PersonID;
   List<string> cars; 
}

So after grouping, I would get:

results[0].PersonID = 1; 
List<string> cars = results[0].cars; 

result[1].PersonID = 2; 
List<string> cars = result[1].cars;

From what I have done so far:

var results = from p in persons
              group p by p.PersonID into g
              select new { PersonID = g.Key, // this is where I am not sure what to do

Could someone please point me in the right direction?

try

persons.GroupBy(x => x.PersonId).Select(x => x)

or

to check if any person is repeating in your list try

persons.GroupBy(x => x.PersonId).Where(x => x.Count() > 1).Any(x => x)

You can also Try this:

var results= persons.GroupBy(n => new { n.PersonId, n.car})
                .Select(g => new {
                               g.Key.PersonId,
                               g.Key.car)}).ToList();

var results = from p in persons
              group p by p.PersonID into g
              select new { PersonID = g.Key,
                           /**/car = g.Select(g=>g.car).FirstOrDefault()/**/}

Try this :

var results= persons.GroupBy(n => n.PersonId)
            .Select(g => new {
                           PersonId=g.Key,
                           Cars=g.Select(p=>p.car).ToList())}).ToList();

But performance-wise the following practice is better and more optimized in memory usage (when our array contains much more items like millions):

var carDic=new Dictionary<int,List<string>>();
for(int i=0;i<persons.length;i++)
{
   var person=persons[i];
   if(carDic.ContainsKey(person.PersonId))
   {
        carDic[person.PersonId].Add(person.car);
   }
   else
   {
        carDic[person.PersonId]=new List<string>(){person.car};
   }
}
//returns the list of cars for PersonId 1
var carList=carDic[1];

An alternative way to do this could be select distinct PersonId and group join with persons:

var result = 
    from id in persons.Select(x => x.PersonId).Distinct()
    join p2 in persons on id equals p2.PersonId into gr // apply group join here
    select new 
    {
        PersonId = id,
        Cars = gr.Select(x => x.Car).ToList(),
    };

Or the same with fluent API syntax:

var result = persons.Select(x => x.PersonId).Distinct()
    .GroupJoin(persons, id => id, p => p.PersonId, (id, gr) => new
    {
        PersonId = id,
        Cars = gr.Select(x => x.Car).ToList(),
    });

GroupJoin produces a list of entries in the first list ( list of PersonId in our case), each with a group of joined entries in the second list (list of persons).

The following example uses the GroupBy method to return objects that are grouped by PersonID.

var results = persons.GroupBy(x => x.PersonID)
              .Select(x => (PersonID: x.Key, Cars: x.Select(p => p.car).ToList())
              ).ToList();

Or

 var results = persons.GroupBy(
               person => person.PersonID,
               (key, groupPerson) => (PersonID: key, Cars: groupPerson.Select(x => x.car).ToList()));

Or

 var results = from person in persons
               group person by person.PersonID into groupPerson
               select (PersonID: groupPerson.Key, Cars: groupPerson.Select(x => x.car).ToList());

Or you can use ToLookup, Basically ToLookup uses EqualityComparer<TKey>.Default to compare keys and do what you should do manually when using group by and to dictionary. i think it's excuted inmemory

 ILookup<int, string> results = persons.ToLookup(
            person => person.PersonID,
            person => person.car);

I have created a working code sample with Query Syntax and Method Syntax. I hope it helps the others :)

You can also run the code on .Net Fiddle here:

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class Person
{ 
    public int PersonId; 
    public string car  ; 
}

class Result
{ 
   public int PersonId;
   public List<string> Cars; 
}

public class Program
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        List<Person> persons = new List<Person>()
        {
            new Person { PersonId = 1, car = "Ferrari" },
            new Person { PersonId = 1, car = "BMW" },
            new Person { PersonId = 2, car = "Audi"}
        };

        //With Query Syntax

        List<Result> results1 = (
            from p in persons
            group p by p.PersonId into g
            select new Result()
                {
                    PersonId = g.Key, 
                    Cars = g.Select(c => c.car).ToList()
                }
            ).ToList();

        foreach (Result item in results1)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(item.PersonId);
            foreach(string car in item.Cars)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(car);
            }
        }

        Console.WriteLine("-----------");

        //Method Syntax

        List<Result> results2 = persons
            .GroupBy(p => p.PersonId, 
                     (k, c) => new Result()
                             {
                                 PersonId = k,
                                 Cars = c.Select(cs => cs.car).ToList()
                             }
                    ).ToList();

        foreach (Result item in results2)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(item.PersonId);
            foreach(string car in item.Cars)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(car);
            }
        }
    }
}

Here is the result:

1
Ferrari
BMW
2
Audi
-----------
1
Ferrari
BMW
2
Audi

var results = from p in persons
              group p by p.PersonID into g
              select new { PersonID = g.Key, Cars = g.Select(m => m.car) };

First, set your key field. Then include your other fields:

var results = 
    persons
    .GroupBy(n => n.PersonId)
    .Select(r => new Result {PersonID = r.Key, Cars = r.ToList() })
    .ToList()