What's your favorite LINQ to Objects operator which is not built-in? [closed]

Answer 1

CountUpTo

static int CountUpTo<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int maxCount)
{
    if (maxCount == 0)
        return 0;

    var genericCollection = source as ICollection<T>; 
    if (genericCollection != null) 
        return Math.Min(maxCount, genericCollection.Count);

    var collection = source as ICollection; 
    if (collection != null)
        return Math.Min(maxCount, collection.Count);

    int count = 0;
    foreach (T item in source)
        if (++count >= maxCount)
            break;
    return count;
}

Answer 2

One, Two, MoreThanOne, AtLeast, AnyAtAll

public static bool One<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
{
    using (var enumerator = enumerable.GetEnumerator())
        return enumerator.MoveNext() && !enumerator.MoveNext();
}

public static bool Two<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
{
    using (var enumerator = enumerable.GetEnumerator())
        return enumerator.MoveNext() && enumerator.MoveNext() && !enumerator.MoveNext();
}

public static bool MoreThanOne<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
{
    return enumerable.Skip(1).Any();
}

public static bool AtLeast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, int count)
{
    using (var enumerator = enumerable.GetEnumerator())
        for (var i = 0; i < count; i++)
            if (!enumerator.MoveNext())
                return false;
    return true;
}

public static bool AnyAtAll<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable)
{
    return enumerable != null && enumerable.Any();
}

Answer 3

FirstOrDefault with a default value specified

/// <summary>
/// Returns the first element of a sequence, or a default value if the
/// sequence contains no elements.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the elements of
/// <paramref name="source"/>.</typeparam>
/// <param name="source">The <see cref="IEnumerable&lt;T&gt;"/> to return
/// the first element of.</param>
/// <param name="default">The default value to return if the sequence contains
/// no elements.</param>
/// <returns><paramref name="default"/> if <paramref name="source"/> is empty;
/// otherwise, the first element in <paramref name="source"/>.</returns>
public static T FirstOrDefault<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, T @default)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
    using (var e = source.GetEnumerator())
    {
        if (!e.MoveNext())
            return @default;
        return e.Current;
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Returns the first element of a sequence, or a default value if the sequence
/// contains no elements.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the elements of
/// <paramref name="source"/>.</typeparam>
/// <param name="source">The <see cref="IEnumerable&lt;T&gt;"/> to return
/// the first element of.</param>
/// <param name="predicate">A function to test each element for a
/// condition.</param>
/// <param name="default">The default value to return if the sequence contains
/// no elements.</param>
/// <returns><paramref name="default"/> if <paramref name="source"/> is empty
/// or if no element passes the test specified by <paramref name="predicate"/>;
/// otherwise, the first element in <paramref name="source"/> that passes
/// the test specified by <paramref name="predicate"/>.</returns>
public static T FirstOrDefault<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source,
    Func<T, bool> predicate, T @default)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
    if (predicate == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("predicate");
    using (var e = source.GetEnumerator())
    {
        while (true)
        {
            if (!e.MoveNext())
                return @default;
            if (predicate(e.Current))
                return e.Current;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

JoinString

Basically the same as string.Join, but:

• with the ability to use it on any collection, not just a collection of strings (calls ToString on every element)

• with the ability to add a prefix and suffix to every string.

• as an extension method. I find string.Join annoying because it is static, meaning that in a chain of operations it is lexically not in the correct order.

---

/// <summary>
/// Turns all elements in the enumerable to strings and joins them using the
/// specified string as the separator and the specified prefix and suffix for
/// each string.
/// <example>
///   <code>
///     var a = (new[] { "Paris", "London", "Tokyo" }).JoinString(", ", "[", "]");
///     // a contains "[Paris], [London], [Tokyo]"
///   </code>
/// </example>
/// </summary>
public static string JoinString<T>(this IEnumerable<T> values,
    string separator = null, string prefix = null, string suffix = null)
{
    if (values == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("values");

    using (var enumerator = values.GetEnumerator())
    {
        if (!enumerator.MoveNext())
            return "";
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        sb.Append(prefix).Append(enumerator.Current.ToString()).Append(suffix);
        while (enumerator.MoveNext())
            sb.Append(separator).Append(prefix)
              .Append(enumerator.Current.ToString()).Append(suffix);
        return sb.ToString();
    }
}

Answer 5

SkipLast & TakeLast

/// <summary>
/// Enumerates the items of this collection, skipping the last
/// <paramref name="count"/> items. Note that the memory usage of this method
/// is proportional to <paramref name="count"/>, but the source collection is
/// only enumerated once, and in a lazy fashion. Also, enumerating the first
/// item will take longer than enumerating subsequent items.
/// </summary>
public static IEnumerable<T> SkipLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int count)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
    if (count < 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count",
            "count cannot be negative.");
    if (count == 0)
        return source;
    return skipLastIterator(source, count);
}
private static IEnumerable<T> skipLastIterator<T>(IEnumerable<T> source,
    int count)
{
    var queue = new T[count];
    int headtail = 0; // tail while we're still collecting, both head & tail
                      // afterwards because the queue becomes completely full
    int collected = 0;

    foreach (var item in source)
    {
        if (collected < count)
        {
            queue[headtail] = item;
            headtail++;
            collected++;
        }
        else
        {
            if (headtail == count) headtail = 0;
            yield return queue[headtail];
            queue[headtail] = item;
            headtail++;
        }
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Returns a collection containing only the last <paramref name="count"/>
/// items of the input collection. This method enumerates the entire
/// collection to the end once before returning. Note also that the memory
/// usage of this method is proportional to <paramref name="count"/>.
/// </summary>
public static IEnumerable<T> TakeLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int count)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");
    if (count < 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("count",
            "count cannot be negative.");
    if (count == 0)
        return new T[0];

    var queue = new Queue<T>(count + 1);
    foreach (var item in source)
    {
        if (queue.Count == count)
            queue.Dequeue();
        queue.Enqueue(item);
    }
    return queue.AsEnumerable();
}

Answer 6

AsIEnumerable

/// <summary>
/// Returns a sequence containing one element.
/// </summary>
public static IEnumerable<T> AsIEnumerable<T>(this T obj)
{
    yield return obj;
}  

Usage:

var nums = new[] {12, 20, 6};
var numsWith5Prepended = 5.AsIEnumerable().Concat(nums);