Finding the minimum value in a sequence with LINQ C#

Finding the minimum value in a sequence can be performed using the Min LINQ operator. In it simplest, parameterless form it works on numeric sequences like this:

List<int> integers = new List<int>() { 54, 23, 76, 123, 93, 7, 3489 };
int intMin = integers.Min();

…which gives 7.

Applying the operator on a list of strings gives the alphabetically minimum value in the list:

string[] bands = { "ACDC", "Queen", "Aerosmith", "Iron Maiden", "Megadeth", "Metallica", "Cream", "Oasis", "Abba", "Blur", "Chic", "Eurythmics", "Genesis", "INXS", "Midnight Oil", "Kent", "Madness", "Manic Street Preachers"			 , "Noir Desir", "The Offspring", "Pink Floyd", "Rammstein", "Red Hot Chili Peppers", "Tears for Fears"						 , "Deep Purple", "KISS"};
string stringMin = bands.Min();

…which yields Abba.

The operator can be applied to sequences of custom objects:

public class Singer
{
	public int Id { get; set; }
	public string FirstName { get; set; }
	public string LastName { get; set; }
	public int BirthYear { get; set; }
}

IEnumerable<Singer> singers = new List<Singer>() 
{
	new Singer(){Id = 1, FirstName = "Freddie", LastName = "Mercury", BirthYear=1964}
	, new Singer(){Id = 2, FirstName = "Elvis", LastName = "Presley", BirthYear = 1954}
	, new Singer(){Id = 3, FirstName = "Chuck", LastName = "Berry", BirthYear = 1954}
	, new Singer(){Id = 4, FirstName = "Ray", LastName = "Charles", BirthYear = 1950}
	, new Singer(){Id = 5, FirstName = "David", LastName = "Bowie", BirthYear = 1964}
};

int minSingerBirthYear = singers.Min(s => s.BirthYear);

We applied a selector function to find the minimum birth year, i.e. 1950. We can find the minimum first name alphabetically speaking:

String minSingerName = singers.Min(s => s.FirstName);

…which gives “Chuck”.

View the list of posts on LINQ here.