If I have a 2D array of strings like so;
{
{"12", "Animal", "Cat"}
{"20", "Animal", "Dog"}
{"6", "Vegetable", "Carrot"}
{"5", "Mineral", "Iron"}
}
How can I use LINQ to select the data and orderby, say the 2nd 'column'? (C# linq preferably)
Something like:
var sorted = array.OrderBy(x => x[1])
.ToArray(); // Or ToList, or nothing...
It's not clear what you mean by "select the data". Personally I'd try to create a more strongly-typed data model, rather than just having an array of strings for each row. You can do that easily enough with LINQ as well, of course:
var sorted = array.Select(row => new Item {
Id = int.Parse(row[0]),
Category = row[1],
Name = row[2]
});
.OrderBy(x => x.Category)
.ToArray();
EDIT: For a query expression version of the first:
var sorted = (from x in array
orderby x[1]
select x).ToArray();
As you can see, it's more cluttered than using the extension methods directly. It's worth being comfortable with both forms, so you can pick the simplest one in any given situation.
select statement.
Even if it's only temporary storage of the data, I would use an anonymous type to make the code clearer, unless the desired end result was sorted string data (i.e., if your task is to sort a text file).
Assuming you have a string[][] and not string[,], I would do this:
var query = from row in array
let record = new { ID = int.Parse(row[0]), Category = row[1], Name = row[2] }
orderby record.Category
select record;
var sortedData = query.ToArray();
Extension method syntax:
var sortedData = array
.Select(row => new { ID = int.Parse(row[0]), Category = row[1], Name = row[2] })
.OrderBy(record => record.Category)
.ToArray();
