想想这个例子:

        var array = new string[2]
        {
            "I like what I like",
            "I like what you like"
        };
        //query1 returns two elements sth like this:
        //fisrt element would be array[5]  :[0] = "I" "like" "what" "I" "like"
        //second element would be array[5] :[1] = "I" "like" "what" "you" "like"
        IEnumerable<string[]> query1 = array.Select(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

        //query2 return back flat result sth like this :
        // "I" "like" "what" "you"
        IEnumerable<string> query2 = array.SelectMany(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

因此，正如你所看到的，像“I”或“like”这样的重复值已从query2中删除，因为“SelectMany”将在多个序列上平坦和投影。 但是query1返回字符串数组序列。由于query1中有两个不同的数组(第一个和第二个元素)，因此不会删除任何东西。

没有太多的技术-数据库与许多组织，每个有许多用户:-

var orgId = "123456789";

var userList1 = db.Organizations
                   .Where(a => a.OrganizationId == orgId)
                   .SelectMany(a => a.Users)
                   .ToList();

var userList2 = db.Users
                   .Where(a => a.OrganizationId == orgId)
                   .ToList();

都为所选组织返回相同的ApplicationUser列表。

第一个“项目”从Organization到Users，第二个直接查询Users表。

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。

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。

SelectMany扁平查询，返回列表的列表。例如

public class PhoneNumber
{
    public string Number { get; set; }
}

public class Person
{
    public IEnumerable<PhoneNumber> PhoneNumbers { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

IEnumerable<Person> people = new List<Person>();

// Select gets a list of lists of phone numbers
IEnumerable<IEnumerable<PhoneNumber>> phoneLists = people.Select(p => p.PhoneNumbers);

// SelectMany flattens it to just a list of phone numbers.
IEnumerable<PhoneNumber> phoneNumbers = people.SelectMany(p => p.PhoneNumbers);

// And to include data from the parent in the result: 
// pass an expression to the second parameter (resultSelector) in the overload:
var directory = people
   .SelectMany(p => p.PhoneNumbers,
               (parent, child) => new { parent.Name, child.Number });

Live Demo。net Fiddle

想想这个例子:

        var array = new string[2]
        {
            "I like what I like",
            "I like what you like"
        };
        //query1 returns two elements sth like this:
        //fisrt element would be array[5]  :[0] = "I" "like" "what" "I" "like"
        //second element would be array[5] :[1] = "I" "like" "what" "you" "like"
        IEnumerable<string[]> query1 = array.Select(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

        //query2 return back flat result sth like this :
        // "I" "like" "what" "you"
        IEnumerable<string> query2 = array.SelectMany(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

因此，正如你所看到的，像“I”或“like”这样的重复值已从query2中删除，因为“SelectMany”将在多个序列上平坦和投影。 但是query1返回字符串数组序列。由于query1中有两个不同的数组(第一个和第二个元素)，因此不会删除任何东西。