Lambda Expressions in C#

Lambda expressions in C# are used like anonymous functions, with the difference that in Lambda expressions you don’t need to specify the type of the value that you input thus making it more flexible to use.
The ‘=>’ is the lambda operator which is used in all lambda expressions. The Lambda expression is divided into two parts, the left side is the input and the right is the expression.

The Lambda Expressions can be of two types:

• Expression Lambda: Consists of the input and the expression.
  Syntax:

input => expression;

• • Statement Lambda: Consists of the input and a set of statements to be executed. Syntax:

input => { statements }; 

Let us take some examples to understand the above concept better.

Example 1: In the code given below, we have a list of integer numbers. The first lambda expression evaluates every element’s square { x => x*x } and the second is used to find which values are divisible by 3 { x => (x % 3) == 0 }. And the foreach loops are used for displaying.

/Lambda Expression

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;


namespace Lambda_Expressions {

class Program {

static void Main(string[] args)

{

// List to store numbers

List<int> numbers = new List<int>() {36, 71, 12,

15, 29, 18, 27, 17, 9, 34};


// foreach loop to display the list

Console.Write("The list : ");

foreach(var value in numbers)

{

Console.Write("{0} ", value);

}

Console.WriteLine();


// Using lambda expression

// to calculate square of

// each value in the list

var square = numbers.Select(x => x * x);


// foreach loop to display squares

Console.Write("Squares : ");

foreach(var value in square)

{

Console.Write("{0} ", value);

}

Console.WriteLine();


// Using Lambda expression to

// find all numbers in the list

// divisible by 3

List<int> divBy3 = numbers.FindAll(x => (x % 3) == 0);


// foreach loop to display divBy3

Console.Write("Numbers Divisible by 3 : ");

foreach(var value in divBy3)

{

Console.Write("{0} ", value);

}

Console.WriteLine();

}
}
}

Output:

The list : 36 71 12 15 29 18 27 17 9 34
Squares : 1296 5041 144 225 841 324 729 289 81 1156
Numbers Divisible by 3 : 36 12 15 18 27 9

Example 2: Lambda expressions can also be used with user-defined classes. The code given below shows how to sort through a list based on an attribute of the class that the list is defined upon.

// C# program to illustrate the
// Lambda Expression
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

namespace Lambda_Expressions {
class Program {
	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
		// List to store numbers
		List<int> numbers = new List<int>() {36, 71, 12,
							15, 29, 18, 27, 17, 9, 34};

		// foreach loop to display the list
		Console.Write("The list : ");
		foreach(var value in numbers)
		{
			Console.Write("{0} ", value);
		}
		Console.WriteLine();

		// Using lambda expression
		// to calculate square of
		// each value in the list
		var square = numbers.Select(x => x * x);

		// foreach loop to display squares
		Console.Write("Squares : ");
		foreach(var value in square)
		{
			Console.Write("{0} ", value);
		}
		Console.WriteLine();

		// Using Lambda expression to
		// find all numbers in the list
		// divisible by 3
		List<int> divBy3 = numbers.FindAll(x => (x % 3) == 0);

		// foreach loop to display divBy3
		Console.Write("Numbers Divisible by 3 : ");
		foreach(var value in divBy3)
		{
			Console.Write("{0} ", value);
		}
		Console.WriteLine();
	}
}
}

Output:

1 Liza
4 Stefani
2 Stewart
3 Tina
5 Trish

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