LINQ equivalent of foreach for IEnumerable

Question

I'd like to do the equivalent of the following in LINQ, but I can't figure out how:

IEnumerable<Item> items = GetItems();
items.ForEach(i => i.DoStuff());

What is the real syntax?

Answer 1

I took Fredrik's method and modified the return type.

This way, the method supports deferred execution like other LINQ methods.

EDIT: If this wasn't clear, any usage of this method must end with ToList() or any other way to force the method to work on the complete enumerable. Otherwise, the action would not be performed!

public static IEnumerable<T> ForEach<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumeration, Action<T> action)
{
    foreach (T item in enumeration)
    {
        action(item);
        yield return item;
    }
}

And here's the test to help see it:

[Test]
public void TestDefferedExecutionOfIEnumerableForEach()
{
    IEnumerable<char> enumerable = new[] {'a', 'b', 'c'};

    var sb = new StringBuilder();

    enumerable
        .ForEach(c => sb.Append("1"))
        .ForEach(c => sb.Append("2"))
        .ToList();

    Assert.That(sb.ToString(), Is.EqualTo("121212"));
}

If you remove the ToList() in the end, you will see the test failing since the StringBuilder contains an empty string. This is because no method forced the ForEach to enumerate.

Answer 2

Fredrik has provided the fix, but it may be worth considering why this isn't in the framework to start with. I believe the idea is that the LINQ query operators should be side-effect-free, fitting in with a reasonably functional way of looking at the world. Clearly ForEach is exactly the opposite - a purely side-effect-based construct.

That's not to say this is a bad thing to do - just thinking about the philosophical reasons behind the decision.

Answer 3

If you want to act as the enumeration rolls you should yield each item.

public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<T> ForEach<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumeration, Action<T> action)
    {
        foreach (var item in enumeration)
        {
            action(item);
            yield return item;
        }
    }
}