What is the difference between Find and where

Question

User1183902823 posted

see my code

            List<Employee> oList = new List<Employee>
            {
                new Employee{ID=1,Name="John"},
                new Employee{ID=2,Name="Jacob"},
                new Employee{ID=3,Name="Lisa"},
                new Employee{ID=4,Name="Rony"},
            };

            var emp = oList.Where(e => e.Name == "John");

            OR

            var emp = oList.Find(e => e.Name == "John");

find and where both return data. then what is the difference ?

when to use find and when to use where?

thanks

Answer 1

User475983607 posted

Find came out with Generics back in .NET 2.0 and is a member of List(T).

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/x0b5b5bc(v=vs.110).aspx

Where is an extension method of the Enumerable type that comes with Linq.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb534803(v=vs.110).aspx

You'll need to use Where when querying an IEnumerable<T> type as Find() is not available.

Answer 2

User1400794712 posted

Hi tridip1974,

The biggest difference is that oList.Where(e => e.Name == "John") is type of IEnumerable<Employee>, but oList.Find(e => e.Name == "John") is a type of Employee. In this demo(I just mean in this case), oList.Find(e => e.Name == "John") is equal to oList.Where(e => e.Name == "John").FirstOrDefault().

Then just like what mgebhard said, Find() can only apply to List(T), then Where() is applicable against multiple kinds of sequences, including List<T>, T[], Collection<T>, etc. Any sequence that implements IEnumerable<T> can use Where() method.

Best Regards,

Daisy

Answer 3

User1183902823 posted

var emp = oList.Where(e => e.Name == "John"); and var emp = oList.Find(e => e.Name == "John"); both return employee data. so what is the difference in it?