LINQ equivalent of foreach for IEnumerable<T>

Question

I'd like to do the equivalent of the following in LINQ, but I can't figure out how:

IEnumerable<Item> items = GetItems();
items.ForEach(i => i.DoStuff());

What is the real syntax?

Answer 1

There is no ForEach extension for IEnumerable; only for List. So you could do

items.ToList().ForEach(i => i.DoStuff());

Alternatively, write your own ForEach extension:

public static void ForEach<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumeration, Action<T> action)
{
    foreach(T item in enumeration)
    {
        action(item);
    }
}

Answer 2

There is none.

You have to use the 'foreach' keyword, or do it C# 1.0 style.

Answer 3

If you can use IQueryable<T> instead of IEnumerable<T>, then the Select method should do what you want.

IQueryable<Item> items = GetItems();
IQueryable<Item> modifiedItems = items.Select(i => i.DoStuff());

LINQ's select method doesn't really have anything in common with the SQL SELECT keyword; what it does is apply a function to each element in a set, and return a set containing the results of those functions.

Answer 4

Fredrik has provided the fix, but it may be worth considering why this isn't in the framework to start with. I believe the idea is that the LINQ query operators should be side-effect-free, fitting in with a reasonably functional way of looking at the world. Clearly ForEach is exactly the opposite - a purely side-effect-based construct.

That's not to say this is a bad thing to do - just thinking about the philosophical reasons behind the decision.

Answer 5

I respectually disagree with the notion that link extension methods should be side-effect free (not only because they aren't, any delegate can perform side effects).

Consider the following:

   public class Element {}

   public Enum ProcessType
   {
      This = 0, That = 1, SomethingElse = 2
   }

   public class Class1
   {
      private Dictionary<ProcessType, Action<Element>> actions = 
         new Dictionary<ProcessType,Action<Element>>();

      public Class1()
      {
         actions.Add( ProcessType.This, DoThis );
         actions.Add( ProcessType.That, DoThat );
         actions.Add( ProcessType.SomethingElse, DoSomethingElse );
      }

      // Element actions:

      // This example defines 3 distict actions
      // that can be applied to individual elements,
      // But for the sake of the argument, make
      // no assumption about how many distict
      // actions there may, and that there could
      // possibly be many more.

      public void DoThis( Element element )
      {
         // Do something to element
      }

      public void DoThat( Element element )
      {
         // Do something to element
      }

      public void DoSomethingElse( Element element )
      {
         // Do something to element
      }

      public void Apply( ProcessType processType, IEnumerable<Element> elements )
      {
         Action<Element> action = null;
         if( ! actions.TryGetValue( processType, out action ) )
            throw new ArgumentException("processType");
         foreach( element in elements ) 
            action(element);
      }
   }

What the example shows is really just a kind of late-binding that allows one invoke one of many possible actions having side-effects on a sequence of elements, without having to write a big switch construct to decode the value that defines the action and translate it into its corresponding method.

Answer 6

I took Fredrik's method and modified the return type.

This way, the method supports deferred execution like other LINQ methods.

EDIT: If this wasn't clear, any usage of this method must end with ToList() or any other way to force the method to work on the complete enumerable. Otherwise, the action would not be performed!

public static IEnumerable<T> ForEach<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumeration, Action<T> action)
{
    foreach (T item in enumeration)
    {
        action(item);
        yield return item;
    }
}

And here's the test to help see it:

[Test]
public void TestDefferedExecutionOfIEnumerableForEach()
{
    IEnumerable<char> enumerable = new[] {'a', 'b', 'c'};

    var sb = new StringBuilder();

    enumerable
        .ForEach(c => sb.Append("1"))
        .ForEach(c => sb.Append("2"))
        .ToList();

    Assert.That(sb.ToString(), Is.EqualTo("121212"));
}

If you remove the ToList() in the end, you will see the test failing since the StringBuilder contains an empty string. This is because no method forced the ForEach to enumerate.

Answer 7

yet another ForEach Example

public static IList<AddressEntry> MapToDomain(IList<AddressModel> addresses)
{
    var workingAddresses = new List<AddressEntry>();

    addresses.Select(a => a).ToList().ForEach(a => workingAddresses.Add(AddressModelMapper.MapToDomain(a)));

    return workingAddresses;
}

Answer 8

The purpose of ForEach is to cause side effects. IEnumerable is for lazy enumeration of a set.

This conceptual difference is quite visible when you consider it.

SomeEnumerable.ForEach(item=>DataStore.Synchronize(item));

This wont execute until you do a "count" or a "ToList()" or something on it. It clearly is not what is expressed.

You should use the IEnumerable extensions for setting up chains of iteration, definining content by their respective sources and conditions. Expression Trees are powerful and efficient, but you should learn to appreciate their nature. And not just for programming around them to save a few characters overriding lazy evaluation.

Answer 9

If you're doing this e.g. because you need the index in your iteration, you could always use a Where construct:

linqObject.Where((obj, index) => {
  DoWork(obj, index);
  return true;
}).ToArray(); //MUST CALL ToArray() or ToList() or something to execute the lazy query, or the loop won't actually execute

This has the added benefit that the original array is returned "unchanged" (the objects referenced by the list are the same, though they may not have the same data), which is often desireable in functional / chain programming methodologies like LINQ.

Answer 10

You could use the FirstOrDefault() extension, which is available for IEnumerable. By returing false from the predicate, it will be run for each element but will not care that it doesn't actually find a match. This will avoid the ToList() overhead.

        IEnumerable<Item> items = GetItems();
        items.FirstOrDefault(i => { i.DoStuff(); return false; });