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。

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; }
}

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

var players = db.SoccerTeams.Where(c => c.Country == "Spain")
                            .SelectMany(c => c.players);

foreach(var player in players)
{
    Console.WriteLine(player.LastName);
}

De Gea 阿尔芭 科斯塔 别墅 Busquets

...

SelectMany()的正式描述是:

将序列的每个元素投射到IEnumerable上并展开 产生的序列变成一个序列。

SelectMany()将结果序列平铺成一个序列，并对其中的每个元素调用结果选择器函数。

class PetOwner
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public List<String> Pets { get; set; }
}

public static void SelectManyEx()
{
     PetOwner[] petOwners =
         { new PetOwner { Name="Higa, Sidney",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scruffy", "Sam" } },
           new PetOwner { Name="Ashkenazi, Ronen",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Walker", "Sugar" } },
           new PetOwner { Name="Price, Vernette",
              Pets = new List<string>{ "Scratches", "Diesel" } } };

// Query using SelectMany().
IEnumerable<string> query1 = petOwners.SelectMany(petOwner => petOwner.Pets);

Console.WriteLine("Using SelectMany():");

// Only one foreach loop is required to iterate
// through the results since it is a
// one-dimensional collection.
foreach (string pet in query1)
{
    Console.WriteLine(pet);
}

// This code shows how to use Select()
// instead of SelectMany().
IEnumerable<List<String>> query2 =
    petOwners.Select(petOwner => petOwner.Pets);

Console.WriteLine("\nUsing Select():");

// Notice that two foreach loops are required to
// iterate through the results
// because the query returns a collection of arrays.
foreach (List<String> petList in query2)
{
    foreach (string pet in petList)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(pet);
    }
    Console.WriteLine();
}
}

/*
   This code produces the following output:

    Using SelectMany():
    Scruffy
    Sam
    Walker
    Sugar
    Scratches
    Diesel

   Using Select():
   Scruffy
   Sam

   Walker
   Sugar

   Scratches
   Diesel
  */

主要的区别是每个方法的结果，而SelectMany()返回一个扁平的结果;Select()返回一个列表的列表，而不是一个扁平的结果集。

因此，SelectMany的结果是一个列表

{斯库菲，山姆，沃克，甜甜，划痕，迪塞尔}

你可以迭代每一项。但是对于select的结果，您需要一个额外的foreach循环来遍历结果，因为查询返回一个数组集合。

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。