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Linq OrderBy Method in C# with Examples
In this article, I am going to discuss the LINQ OrderBy Method in C# with examples. Please read our previous article where we discussed the basics of Ordering Operators in LINQ. As part of this article, we are going to discuss the following pointers related to the LINQ OrderBy method.
- What is Linq OrderBy Method?
- Example of Linq OrderBy Method using both Method and Query Syntax.
- How to use Linq OrderBy Method with Complex Type in C#?
- How to use the OrderBy method along with the Filtering method?
What is Linq OrderBy Method?
The Linq OrderBy method in C# is used to sort the data in ascending order. The most important point that you need to keep in mind is this method is not going to change the data rather it is just changing the order of the data.
You can use the OrderBy method on any data type i.e. you can use character, string, decimal, integer, etc. Let us understand the use of the LINQ OrderBy method in C# using both query syntax and method syntax.
Example1: Working with integer data
In the below example we have a collection of integer data. And we sort the data in ascending order using the OrderBy method.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<int> intList = new List<int>() { 10, 45, 35, 29, 100, 69, 58, 50 };
Console.WriteLine("Before Sorting : ");
foreach (var item in intList)
{
Console.Write(item + " ");
}
//Sorting the data in Ascending Order
//Using Method Syntax
var MS = intList.OrderBy(num => num);
//Using Query Syntax
var QS = (from num in intList
orderby num
select num).ToList();
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("After Sorting : ");
foreach (var item in QS)
{
Console.Write(item + " ");
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Output:
Exampe2: Working with string data.
In the below example we have a collection of string names. We then sort the data in ascending order using both method and query syntax.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<string> stringList = new List<string>() { "Preety", "Tiwary", "Agrawal", "Priyanka", "Dewangan",
"Hina","Kumar","Manoj", "Rout", "James"};
//Using Method Syntax
var MS = stringList.OrderBy(name => name);
//Using Query Syntax
var QS = (from name in stringList
orderby name ascending
select name).ToList();
foreach (var item in MS)
{
Console.WriteLine(item + " ");
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Note: In query syntax, while we are sorting the data in ascending order then the use of ascending operator is optional. That means if we are not specifying anything then by default it is ascending. So the following two statements are the same.
Using LINQ OrderBy Method with Complex type:
We are going to work with the following Student class. So, create a class file with the name Student.cs and then copy and paste the following code in it.
using System.Collections.Generic;
namespace LINQDemo
{
public class Student
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string Branch { get; set; }
public static List<Student> GetAllStudents()
{
List<Student> listStudents = new List<Student>()
{
new Student{ID= 101,FirstName = "Preety",LastName = "Tiwary",Branch = "CSE"},
new Student{ID= 102,FirstName = "Preety",LastName = "Agrawal",Branch = "ETC"},
new Student{ID= 103,FirstName = "Priyanka",LastName = "Dewangan",Branch = "ETC"},
new Student{ID= 104,FirstName = "Hina",LastName = "Sharma",Branch = "ETC"},
new Student{ID= 105,FirstName = "Anugrag",LastName = "Mohanty",Branch = "CSE"},
new Student{ID= 106,FirstName = "Anurag",LastName = "Sharma",Branch = "CSE"},
new Student{ID= 107,FirstName = "Pranaya",LastName = "Kumar",Branch = "CSE"},
new Student{ID= 108,FirstName = "Manoj",LastName = "Kumar",Branch = "ETC"},
new Student{ID= 109,FirstName = "Pranaya",LastName = "Rout",Branch = "ETC"},
new Student{ID= 110,FirstName = "Saurav",LastName = "Rout",Branch = "CSE"}
};
return listStudents;
}
}
}
As you can see, we created the Student class with four properties such as ID, FirstName, LastName, and Brach. We then created one method (i.e. GetAllStudents) within the same class which is going to return a list of all students.
Example3: Sorting the Data in Ascending Order
Here, we want to sort the data based on the Branch of the Student in ascending order.
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Method Syntax
var MS = Student.GetAllStudents().OrderBy(x => x.Branch).ToList();
//Query Syntax
var QS = (from std in Student.GetAllStudents()
orderby std.Branch
select std);
foreach (var student in MS)
{
Console.WriteLine(" Branch: " + student.Branch + ", Name :" + student.FirstName + " " + student.LastName );
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Output:
Example4: Sorting with Filtering.
Now we need to fetch only the CSE branch students and then we need to sort the data based on the FirstName in ascending order.
Note: The most important point that you need to remember is, you need to use the Where method before the OrderBy method. The following example shows the above using both query and method syntax.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
namespace LINQDemo
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Method Syntax
var MS = Student.GetAllStudents()
.Where(std => std.Branch.ToUpper() == "CSE")
.OrderBy(x => x.FirstName).ToList();
//Query Syntax
var QS = (from std in Student.GetAllStudents()
where std.Branch.ToUpper() == "CSE"
orderby std.FirstName
select std);
foreach (var student in QS)
{
Console.WriteLine(" Branch: " + student.Branch + ", Name :" + student.FirstName + " " + student.LastName );
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
Output:
In the next article, I am going to discuss how to sort the data in descending order by using the OrderByDescending method in C# with some examples. Here, in this article, I try to explain the need and use of the Linq OrderBy Method in C# with different types of examples. I hope you enjoy this article.