LINQ Element Operators (FirstOrDefault, Last, ElementAt, SingleOrDefault)

In LINQ, element operators are useful for returning a first/last element of the list, a single element from the collection, or a specific element based on index value from a collection. 

 

In LINQ, we have different types of element operators available those are

 

  1. First
  2. FirstOrDefault
  3. Last
  4. LastOrDefault
  5. ElementAt
  6. ElementAtOrDefault
  7. Single
  8. SingleOrDefault
  9. DefaultIfEmpty

Using these element operators, we can get list/collection items at a specific position. The following table shows more detailed information related to element operators.

 

OperatorDescription
First It returns the first element in sequence or the first element from the collection based on the specified condition.
FirstOrDefault It's same as First, but it returns the default value if no element is found in the collection.
Last It returns the last elements in sequence or the last element from the list based on matching criteria.
LastOrDefault It's same as Last, but it returns a default value if no element is found in the collection.
ElementAt It returns an element from the list based on the specified index position.
ElementAtOrDefault It's same as ElementAt, but it returns the default value if no element is present at the specified index of the collection.
Single It returns a single specific element from the collection.
SingleOrDefault It's same as Single, but it returns a default value if no element is found in the collection.
DefaultIfEmpty It returns the default value if the list or collection contains empty or null values.

We will learn all the element operators in-detail in further chapters with examples.

 

We will be studying each of them with a demo to get a clear understating of the operators. So let’s start with a demo.

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