How to flatten tree via LINQ?
Solution 1:
You can flatten a tree like this:
IEnumerable<MyNode> Flatten(IEnumerable<MyNode> e) =>
e.SelectMany(c => Flatten(c.Elements)).Concat(new[] { e });
You can then filter by group using Where(...).
To earn some "points for style", convert Flatten to an extension function in a static class.
public static IEnumerable<MyNode> Flatten(this IEnumerable<MyNode> e) =>
e.SelectMany(c => c.Elements.Flatten()).Concat(e);
To earn more points for "even better style", convert Flatten to a generic extension method that takes a tree and a function that produces descendants from a node:
public static IEnumerable<T> Flatten<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> e
, Func<T,IEnumerable<T>> f
) => e.SelectMany(c => f(c).Flatten(f)).Concat(e);
Call this function like this:
IEnumerable<MyNode> tree = ....
var res = tree.Flatten(node => node.Elements);
If you would prefer flattening in pre-order rather than in post-order, switch around the sides of the Concat(...).
Solution 2:
The problem with the accepted answer is that it is inefficient if the tree is deep. If the tree is very deep then it blows the stack. You can solve the problem by using an explicit stack:
public static IEnumerable<MyNode> Traverse(this MyNode root)
{
var stack = new Stack<MyNode>();
stack.Push(root);
while(stack.Count > 0)
{
var current = stack.Pop();
yield return current;
foreach(var child in current.Elements)
stack.Push(child);
}
}
Assuming n nodes in a tree of height h and a branching factor considerably less than n, this method is O(1) in stack space, O(h) in heap space and O(n) in time. The other algorithm given is O(h) in stack, O(1) in heap and O(nh) in time. If the branching factor is small compared to n then h is between O(lg n) and O(n), which illustrates that the naïve algorithm can use a dangerous amount of stack and a large amount of time if h is close to n.
Now that we have a traversal, your query is straightforward:
root.Traverse().Where(item=>item.group == 1);
Solution 3:
Just for completeness, here is the combination of the answers from dasblinkenlight and Eric Lippert. Unit tested and everything. :-)
public static IEnumerable<T> Flatten<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> items,
Func<T, IEnumerable<T>> getChildren)
{
var stack = new Stack<T>();
foreach(var item in items)
stack.Push(item);
while(stack.Count > 0)
{
var current = stack.Pop();
yield return current;
var children = getChildren(current);
if (children == null) continue;
foreach (var child in children)
stack.Push(child);
}
}
Solution 4:
Update:
For people interested in level of nesting (depth). One of the good things about explicit enumerator stack implementation is that at any moment (and in particular when yielding the element) the stack.Count represents the currently processing depth. So taking this into account and utilizing the C#7.0 value tuples, we can simply change the method declaration as follows:
public static IEnumerable<(T Item, int Level)> ExpandWithLevel<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, IEnumerable<T>> elementSelector)
and yield statement:
yield return (item, stack.Count);
Then we can implement the original method by applying simple Select on the above:
public static IEnumerable<T> Expand<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, IEnumerable<T>> elementSelector) =>
source.ExpandWithLevel(elementSelector).Select(e => e.Item);
Original:
Surprisingly no one (even Eric) showed the "natural" iterative port of a recursive pre-order DFT, so here it is:
public static IEnumerable<T> Expand<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, IEnumerable<T>> elementSelector)
{
var stack = new Stack<IEnumerator<T>>();
var e = source.GetEnumerator();
try
{
while (true)
{
while (e.MoveNext())
{
var item = e.Current;
yield return item;
var elements = elementSelector(item);
if (elements == null) continue;
stack.Push(e);
e = elements.GetEnumerator();
}
if (stack.Count == 0) break;
e.Dispose();
e = stack.Pop();
}
}
finally
{
e.Dispose();
while (stack.Count != 0) stack.Pop().Dispose();
}
}
Solution 5:
I found some small issues with the answers given here:
- What if the initial list of items is null?
- What if there is a null value in the list of children?
Built on the previous answers and came up with the following:
public static class IEnumerableExtensions
{
public static IEnumerable<T> Flatten<T>(
this IEnumerable<T> items,
Func<T, IEnumerable<T>> getChildren)
{
if (items == null)
yield break;
var stack = new Stack<T>(items);
while (stack.Count > 0)
{
var current = stack.Pop();
yield return current;
if (current == null) continue;
var children = getChildren(current);
if (children == null) continue;
foreach (var child in children)
stack.Push(child);
}
}
}
And the unit tests:
[TestClass]
public class IEnumerableExtensionsTests
{
[TestMethod]
public void NullList()
{
IEnumerable<Test> items = null;
var flattened = items.Flatten(i => i.Children);
Assert.AreEqual(0, flattened.Count());
}
[TestMethod]
public void EmptyList()
{
var items = new Test[0];
var flattened = items.Flatten(i => i.Children);
Assert.AreEqual(0, flattened.Count());
}
[TestMethod]
public void OneItem()
{
var items = new[] { new Test() };
var flattened = items.Flatten(i => i.Children);
Assert.AreEqual(1, flattened.Count());
}
[TestMethod]
public void OneItemWithChild()
{
var items = new[] { new Test { Id = 1, Children = new[] { new Test { Id = 2 } } } };
var flattened = items.Flatten(i => i.Children);
Assert.AreEqual(2, flattened.Count());
Assert.IsTrue(flattened.Any(i => i.Id == 1));
Assert.IsTrue(flattened.Any(i => i.Id == 2));
}
[TestMethod]
public void OneItemWithNullChild()
{
var items = new[] { new Test { Id = 1, Children = new Test[] { null } } };
var flattened = items.Flatten(i => i.Children);
Assert.AreEqual(2, flattened.Count());
Assert.IsTrue(flattened.Any(i => i.Id == 1));
Assert.IsTrue(flattened.Any(i => i == null));
}
class Test
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Test> Children { get; set; }
}
}