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LINQ Max Method in C# with Examples
In this article, I am going to discuss the LINQ Max Method in C# with Examples. Please read our previous article where we discussed LINQ Sum Aggregate Method in C# with Examples. As part of this article, we are going to discuss the following pointers.
- What is LINQ Max Method in C#?
- Multiple Examples to Understand Sum Method using both Method and Query Syntax.
What is LINQ Max Method in C#?
The LINQ Max() Method belongs to the category of Aggregate Operators. The LINQ Max Method in C# is used to return the largest numeric value from the collection on which it is applied.
Example to Understand LINQ Max Method in C#:
Let us understand the LINQ Max() method with Examples using C#. The following example returns the largest number from the collection using both query and method syntax. The point that you need to remember is the Max Method is going to work with numeric values only. In this case, the collection stores integer values, and hence we can apply the LINQ Max Method. We don’t have any operator called max in the Query Syntax. So here we need to use mixed syntax.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] intNumbers = new int[] { 10, 80, 50, 90, 60, 30, 70, 40, 20, 100 };
//Using Method Syntax
int MSLergestNumber = intNumbers.Max();
//Using Query Syntax
int QSLergestNumber = (from num in intNumbers
select num).Max();
Console.WriteLine("Largest Number = " + MSLergestNumber);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Output: Largest Number = 100
Example to Understand LINQ Max Method with Where Extension Method using C#
Let us see an example to Understand how we can use the LINQ Max Method along with the Where Extension Method in C# using both Method and Query Syntax. Now our requirement is to return the largest number from the collection where the number is less than 50. The following example code exactly does the same.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] intNumbers = new int[] { 10, 80, 50, 90, 60, 30, 70, 40, 20, 100 };
//Using Method Syntax
int MSLergestNumber = intNumbers.Where(num => num < 50).Max();
//Using Query Syntax
int QSLergestNumber = (from num in intNumbers
where num < 50
select num).Max();
Console.WriteLine("Largest Number = " + MSLergestNumber);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
} Output: Largest Number = 40
Example to Understand How to use LINQ Max Method with Predicate in C#
Let us see an example to Understand How to use LINQ Max Method with Predicate in C# using both Method and Query Syntax. Instead of using the Where Extension method to filter the data, we can also use the other overloaded version of the Max method which takes a Predicate as a parameter and using the predicate, we can write the logic to filter the data. In the below example, within the Max Method, we are using a Predicate and we are providing the condition whether the number is less than 50 or not. If the number is less than 50, then we are returning that number else we return 0. The following example will return the largest number which is less than 50.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
int[] intNumbers = new int[] { 10, 80, 50, 90, 60, 30, 70, 40, 20, 100 };
//Using Method Syntax
int MSLergestNumber = intNumbers.Max(num => {
if (num < 50)
return num;
else
return 0;
});
Console.WriteLine("Largest Number = " + MSLergestNumber);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
} Output: Largest Number = 40
Example to Understand LINQ Max Method with Complex Type in C#:
Let us see an example to Understand How to use LINQ Max Method with Complex Data Type in C# using both Method and Query Syntax. We are going to work with the following Employee class. As you can see, it is a very simple class having four properties such as ID, Name, Salary, and Department. Here, we also created one method i.e. GetAllEmployees() which will return the list of all the employees and this is going to be our data source.
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace LINQDemo
{
public class Employee
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public int Salary { get; set; }
public string Department { get; set; }
public static List<Employee> GetAllEmployees()
{
List<Employee> listStudents = new List<Employee>()
{
new Employee{ID= 101,Name = "Preety", Salary = 10000, Department = "IT"},
new Employee{ID= 102,Name = "Priyanka", Salary = 15000, Department = "Sales"},
new Employee{ID= 103,Name = "James", Salary = 50000, Department = "Sales"},
new Employee{ID= 104,Name = "Hina", Salary = 20000, Department = "IT"},
new Employee{ID= 105,Name = "Anurag", Salary = 30000, Department = "IT"},
new Employee{ID= 106,Name = "Sara", Salary = 25000, Department = "IT"},
new Employee{ID= 107,Name = "Pranaya", Salary = 35000, Department = "IT"},
new Employee{ID= 108,Name = "Manoj", Salary = 11000, Department = "Sales"},
new Employee{ID= 109,Name = "Sam", Salary = 45000, Department = "Sales"},
new Employee{ID= 110,Name = "Saurav", Salary = 25000, Department = "Sales"}
};
return listStudents;
}
}
}
Now, our requirement is to return the highest salary among all the employees. The following example returns the highest salary among all the employees using the LINQ Max method with both Method and Query Syntax. Here, to the Max method, we are specifying the numeric Salary column using a lambda expression.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Using Method Syntax
var MSHighestSalary = Employee.GetAllEmployees()
.Max(emp => emp.Salary);
//Using Query Syntax
var QSHighestSalary = (from emp in Employee.GetAllEmployees()
select emp).Max(e => e.Salary);
Console.WriteLine("Highest Salary = " + QSHighestSalary);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Output: Highest Salary = 50000
Example using Max and Where Extension Method in C#:
Let us see an example to Understand How to use both LINQ Max and Where Extension Methods with Complex Type using both Method and Query Syntax. Our requirement is to return the Highest Salary in the IT department. The following example exactly does the same. Using the Where Extension Method we are filtering the IT department employees and using the Max method we are specifying the Salary numeric column which will return the Highest Salary of the IT department.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Using Method Syntax
var MSHighestSalary = Employee.GetAllEmployees()
.Where(emp => emp.Department == "IT")
.Max(emp => emp.Salary);
//Using Query Syntax
var QSHighestSalary = (from emp in Employee.GetAllEmployees()
where emp.Department == "IT"
select emp).Max(e => e.Salary);
Console.WriteLine("It Department Highest Salary = " + QSHighestSalary);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
} Output: It Department Highest Salary = 35000
Let’s rewrite the previous example using the custom predicate. As you can see, within the Max method, we are checking the Department property value and if the Department is IT, we are returning the corresponding Salary else we are returning 0.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Using Method Syntax
var MSHighestSalary = Employee.GetAllEmployees()
.Max(emp => {
if (emp.Department == "IT")
return emp.Salary;
else
return 0;
});
Console.WriteLine("It Department Highest Salary = " + MSHighestSalary);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
} Output: It Department Highest Salary = 35000
Let’s rewrite the previous example using the custom predicate. As you can see, within the Max method, we are checking the Department property value and if the Department value is It, we are returning the corresponding Salary else we are returning null.
using System;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Using Method Syntax and Predicate
var HighestSalaryMS = Employee.GetAllEmployees()
.Max(emp => {
if (emp.Department == "IT")
return emp.Salary;
else
return null;
});
Console.WriteLine("IT Department Highest Salary = " + HighestSalaryMS);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
} Output: It Department Highest Salary = 35000
In the next article, I am going to discuss the LINQ Min Aggregate Method in C# with Examples. I hope you will understand the use and need of the Linq Max Aggregate Method in C# with Examples.
