我认为这是理解的最好方式。

            var query =
            Enumerable
                .Range(1, 10)
                .SelectMany(ints => Enumerable.Range(1, 10), (a, b) => $"{a} * {b} = {a * b}")
                .ToArray();

        Console.WriteLine(string.Join(Environment.NewLine, query));

        Console.Read();

乘法表的例子。

Select是一个简单的从源元素到结果元素的一对一投影。选择- - - 当查询表达式中有多个from子句时使用Many:原始序列中的每个元素都用于生成一个新序列。

下面是一个用于测试的初始化小集合的代码示例:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        List<Order> orders = new List<Order>
        {
            new Order
            {
                OrderID = "orderID1",
                OrderLines = new List<OrderLine>
                {
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU1",
                        Quantity = 1
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU2",
                        Quantity = 2
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU3",
                        Quantity = 3
                    }
                }
            },
            new Order
            {
                OrderID = "orderID2",
                OrderLines = new List<OrderLine>
                {
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU4",
                        Quantity = 4
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU5",
                        Quantity = 5
                    }
                }
            }
        };

        //required result is the list of all SKUs in orders
        List<string> allSKUs = new List<string>();

        //With Select case 2 foreach loops are required
        var flattenedOrdersLinesSelectCase = orders.Select(o => o.OrderLines);
        foreach (var flattenedOrderLine in flattenedOrdersLinesSelectCase)
        {
            foreach (OrderLine orderLine in flattenedOrderLine)
            {
                allSKUs.Add(orderLine.ProductSKU);
            }
        }

        //With SelectMany case only one foreach loop is required
        allSKUs = new List<string>();
        var flattenedOrdersLinesSelectManyCase = orders.SelectMany(o => o.OrderLines);
        foreach (var flattenedOrderLine in flattenedOrdersLinesSelectManyCase)
        {
            allSKUs.Add(flattenedOrderLine.ProductSKU);
        }

       //If the required result is flattened list which has OrderID, ProductSKU and Quantity,
       //SelectMany with selector is very helpful to get the required result
       //and allows avoiding own For loops what according to my experience do code faster when
       // hundreds of thousands of data rows must be operated
        List<OrderLineForReport> ordersLinesForReport = (List<OrderLineForReport>)orders.SelectMany(o => o.OrderLines,
            (o, ol) => new OrderLineForReport
            {
                OrderID = o.OrderID,
                ProductSKU = ol.ProductSKU,
                Quantity = ol.Quantity
            }).ToList();
    }
}
class Order
{
    public string OrderID { get; set; }
    public List<OrderLine> OrderLines { get; set; }
}
class OrderLine
{
    public string ProductSKU { get; set; }
    public int Quantity { get; set; }
}
class OrderLineForReport
{
    public string OrderID { get; set; }
    public string ProductSKU { get; set; }
    public int Quantity { get; set; }
}

假设你有一组国家

var countries = new[] { "France", "Italy" };

如果你对国家执行Select，你将得到数组中的每个元素IEnumerable<T>

IEnumerable<string> selectQuery = countries.Select(country => country);

在上面的代码中，国家表示指向数组中每个国家的字符串。现在迭代selectQuery以获得国家:

foreach(var country in selectQuery)
    Console.WriteLine(country);

// output
//
// France
// Italy

如果你想打印每个国家的字符，你必须使用嵌套foreach

foreach (var country in selectQuery)
{
    foreach (var charOfCountry in country)
    {
        Console.Write(charOfCountry + ", ");
    }
}

// output

// F, r, a, n, c, e, I, t, a, l, y,

好的。现在尝试对国家执行SelectMany。这一次SelectMany获取每个国家作为字符串(和以前一样)，因为字符串类型是一个字符的集合，SelectMany尝试将每个国家分为它的组成部分(字符)，然后返回一个字符的集合IEnumerable<T>

IEnumerable<char> selectManyQuery = countries.SelectMany(country => country);

在上面的代码中，country表示一个字符串，该字符串引用数组中的每个国家，但返回值是每个国家的字符

实际上SelectMany喜欢在集合中获取两层，并将第二层平铺为IEnumerable<T>

现在遍历selectManyQuery以获得每个国家的字符:

foreach(var charOfCountry in selectManyQuery)
    Console.Write(charOfCountry + ", ");

// output

// F, r, a, n, c, e, I, t, a, l, y,

SelectMany有几个重载。其中之一允许您在遍历层次结构时跟踪父节点和子节点之间的任何关系。

示例:假设您有以下结构:League -> Teams -> Player。

您可以很容易地返回一个平坦的播放器集合。但是你可能会失去任何关于玩家所在团队的信息。

幸运的是，有一个重载用于此目的:

var teamsAndTheirLeagues = 
         from helper in leagues.SelectMany
               ( l => l.Teams
                 , ( league, team ) => new { league, team } )
                      where helper.team.Players.Count > 2 
                           && helper.league.Teams.Count < 10
                           select new 
                                  { LeagueID = helper.league.ID
                                    , Team = helper.team 
                                   };

前面的例子来自Dan的IK博客。我强烈建议你看一看。

select操作符用于从集合中选择值，SelectMany操作符用于从集合的集合(即嵌套集合)中选择值。