LINQ's Distinct() on a particular property

Question

I am playing with LINQ to learn about it, but I can't figure out how to use Distinct when I do not have a simple list (a simple list of integers is pretty easy to do, this is not the question). What I if want to use Distinct on a list of an Object on one or more properties of the object?

Example: If an object is Person, with Property Id. How can I get all Person and use Distinct on them with the property Id of the object?

Person1: Id=1, Name="Test1"
Person2: Id=1, Name="Test1"
Person3: Id=2, Name="Test2"

How can I get just Person1 and Person3? Is that possible?

If it's not possible with LINQ, what would be the best way to have a list of Person depending on some of its properties in .NET 3.5?

Answer 1

You can do it (albeit not lightning-quickly) like so:

people.Where(p => !people.Any(q => (p != q && p.Id == q.Id)));

That is, "select all people where there isn't another different person in the list with the same ID."

Mind you, in your example, that would just select person 3. I'm not sure how to tell which you want, out of the previous two.

Answer 2

What if I want to obtain a distinct list based on one or more properties?

Simple! You want to group them and pick a winner out of the group.

List<Person> distinctPeople = allPeople
  .GroupBy(p => p.PersonId)
  .Select(g => g.First())
  .ToList();

If you want to define groups on multiple properties, here's how:

List<Person> distinctPeople = allPeople
  .GroupBy(p => new {p.PersonId, p.FavoriteColor} )
  .Select(g => g.First())
  .ToList();

Answer 3

Personally I use the following class:

public class LambdaEqualityComparer<TSource, TDest> : 
    IEqualityComparer<TSource>
{
    private Func<TSource, TDest> _selector;

    public LambdaEqualityComparer(Func<TSource, TDest> selector)
    {
        _selector = selector;
    }

    public bool Equals(TSource obj, TSource other)
    {
        return _selector(obj).Equals(_selector(other));
    }

    public int GetHashCode(TSource obj)
    {
        return _selector(obj).GetHashCode();
    }
}

Then, an extension method:

public static IEnumerable<TSource> Distinct<TSource, TCompare>(
    this IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource, TCompare> selector)
{
    return source.Distinct(new LambdaEqualityComparer<TSource, TCompare>(selector));
}

Finally, the intended usage:

var dates = new List<DateTime>() { /* ... */ }
var distinctYears = dates.Distinct(date => date.Year);

The advantage I found using this approach is the re-usage of LambdaEqualityComparer class for other methods that accept an IEqualityComparer. (Oh, and I leave the yield stuff to the original LINQ implementation...)

Answer 4

List<Person>lst=new List<Person>
        var result1 = lst.OrderByDescending(a => a.ID).Select(a =>new Player {ID=a.ID,Name=a.Name} ).Distinct();

Answer 5

You could also use query syntax if you want it to look all LINQ-like:

var uniquePeople = from p in people
                   group p by new {p.ID} //or group by new {p.ID, p.Name, p.Whatever}
                   into mygroup
                   select mygroup.FirstOrDefault();

Answer 6

Use:

List<Person> pList = new List<Person>();
/* Fill list */

var result = pList.Where(p => p.Name != null).GroupBy(p => p.Id).Select(grp => grp.FirstorDefault());

The where helps you filter the entries (could be more complex) and the groupby and select perform the distinct function.