How to sort a List in C#?

Steilla Mitchel 897 17 Aug 2023

Ask by Steilla Mitchel

Updated 18 Aug 2023

1 Answers

Aryan Kumar 18 Aug 2023

There are two ways to sort a list in C#:

Using the Sort() method.
Using the OrderBy() method from LINQ.

Using the Sort() method

The Sort() method takes a delegate as its parameter. The delegate is a function that takes two elements of the same type and returns an integer value indicating their relative order. The following code sorts a list of integers in ascending order:

List<int> numbers = new List<int>();
numbers.Add(10);
numbers.Add(5);
numbers.Add(20);

numbers.Sort(delegate(int x, int y) {
    return x.CompareTo(y);
});

In this code, the delegate is an anonymous method that compares two integers. The CompareTo() method returns an integer value indicating the relative order of the two integers. A value of -1 means that the first integer is less than the second integer, a value of 0 means that the two integers are equal, and a value of 1 means that the first integer is greater than the second integer.

Using the OrderBy() method from LINQ

The OrderBy() method from LINQ is a more concise way to sort a list. The OrderBy() method takes a lambda expression as its parameter. The lambda expression specifies the property that the list should be sorted by. The following code sorts the same list of integers as the previous example using the OrderBy() method:

var sortedNumbers = numbers.OrderBy(x => x);

In this code, the lambda expression specifies that the list should be sorted by the x property of the int objects.

Which method you use to sort a list depends on your preference. The Sort() method is more flexible, as you can use it to sort a list by any property. However, the OrderBy() method is more concise and easier to read.

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