LINQ: Get first character of each string in an array

Question

Consider a string array shaped like this:

  string[] someName = new string[] { "First", "MiddleName", "LastName" };

The requirement is to get the first character from each element in the array.

i.e.

FML

Previously have tried:

string initials = string.Concat(someName.Select(x => x[0]));

Question: What LINQ query would you write to concatenate all the name contained in the string array to give the initials?

Answer 1

try this:

string shortName = new string(someName.Select(s => s[0]).ToArray());

or, if you suspect that any of the strings might be empty or so:

string shortName = new string(someName.Where(s => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
                                      .Select(s => s[0]).ToArray());

Answer 2

  string[] someName = new string[] { "First", "MiddleName", "LastName" };
  String initials = String.Join(".",someName.Select(x => x[0].ToString()).ToArray());

Produces

F.M.L

Answer 3

This solution accounts for empty strings as well by removing them from the output

var shortName = new string(
  someName
    .Where( s => !String.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
    .Select(s => s[0])
    .ToArray());

Answer 4

string initials = someName.Where(s => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
                          .Aggregate("", (xs, x) => xs + x.First());