Is there a C# LINQ syntax for the Queryable.SelectMany() method?

Question

When writing a query using C# LINQ syntax, is there a way to use the Queryable.SelectMany method from the keyword syntax?

For

string[] text = { "Albert was here", 
                  "Burke slept late", 
                  "Connor is happy" };

Using fluent methods I could query

var tokens = text.SelectMany(s => s.Split(' '));

Is there a query syntax akin to

var tokens = from x in text selectmany s.Split(' ')

Solution 1

Yes, you just repeat the from ... in clause:

var words = from str in text
            from word in str.Split(' ')
            select word;

Solution 2

You can use a Compound from Clause:

var tokens = from s in text
             from x in s.Split(' ')
             select x;

Solution 3

Your query would be re-written as:

var tokens = from x in text
             from z in x.Split(' ')
             select z;

Here's a good page that has a couple of side-by-side examples of Lambda and Query syntax:

Select Many Operator Part 1 - Zeeshan Hirani

Comments

[Justin Niessner]

@BCooksey - Yes...because you're selecting from a collection nested inside the first result.

[Sprague]

All of these calls could be serviced by SelectMany, which is hugely flexible, but the compiler will choose between Select, SelectMany and even no transformation at all, depending on the form of the query