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Home Forums What are LINQ Last(), and LastOrDefault() functions? – MindStick
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1 Answers

Ashutosh Patel
Ashutosh Patel 12 Feb 2025
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Last() vs LastOrDefault() in LINQ (C#)

Last() and LastOrDefault() both retrieve the last element from a collection, but they behave differently when no matching element is found.

Last()

  • Returns the last element in the collection that matches a given condition.
  • Throws an exception (InvalidOperationException) if no matching element is found.

Example-

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Program
{
   static void Main()
   {
       List<int> numbers = new List<int> { 3, 7, 8, 10, 15 };
       int lastEven = numbers.Last(n => n % 2 == 0);
       Console.WriteLine("Last Even Number: " + lastEven);
       // Output: Last Even Number: 10
   }
}

LastOrDefault()

  • Returns the last matching element, or the default value (null for reference types, 0 for numeric types) if no element is found.
  • Does not throw an exception when no element matches.

Example- 

Finding Last Even Number, with Default Handling

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Program
{
   static void Main()
   {
       List<int> numbers = new List<int> { 3, 7, 8, 10, 15 };
       int lastEven = numbers.LastOrDefault(n => n % 2 == 0);
       Console.WriteLine("Last Even Number: " + lastEven);
       // Output: Last Even Number: 10 (if present) or 0 (if no match)

       // with string
       List<string> names = new List<string> { "Alice", "Bob", "Charlie" };
       string result = names.LastOrDefault(n => n.StartsWith("Z"));
       Console.WriteLine(result == null ? "No match found" : result);
       // Output: No match found

   }
}

When to use what?

  • Use Last() when you are sure that at least one matching element exists.
  • Use LastOrDefault() when no matching element exists (to avoid exceptions).

Also, Read: Explain First(), FirstOrDefault() function in LINQ with C#

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