I have a generic list of assets (List<Asset>) and one of the assets properties is called Tags which is a list of strings
How would I do a Linq query to get a distinct list of tags. I tried
assetList.Select(a => a.Tags).Distinct()
but this returns me an IEnumerable<List<string>> instead of an IEnumerable<string>
You was close. You need to use Enumerable.SelectMany to select all tags and flatten them into one sequence:
assetList.SelectMany(a => a.Tags).Distinct()
assetList.SelecMany(a => a.Tags).Distinct() . correct it
more information about differences Difference Between Select and SelectMany
Select only takes objects as they are and Tags is a list, so it takes lists. If you need items from these lists, you have to flatten them into one list and then proceed with other operations.
assetList.SelectMany(a => a.Tags).Distinct();
A nice example from MSDN on SelectMany
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" } } };
IEnumerable<string> query1 = petOwners.SelectMany(petOwner => petOwner.Pets);
produces the following list
Scruffy, Sam, Walker, Sugar, Scratches, Diesel
