LINQ: differences between single Where with multiple conditions and consecutive Wheres with single condition [duplicate]

Question

This question already has answers here:

Should I use two "where" clauses or "&&" in my LINQ query? (6 answers)

Closed 5 years ago.

Is there any disadvantage in concatenating multiple Where in LINQ instead of using a single Where with multiple conditions?

I'm asking because using multiple Where can help to reduce complexity and improve maintainability of my code considerably.

Consider following code, chargeList is a List<Charge> which is the source of a BindingSource:

IEnumerable<Charge> matchingCharges = chargeList;
if(!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(channelAbbr))
    matchingCharges = matchingCharges
        .Where(c => c.ChannelAbbreviation == channelAbbr);
if(deliveryNoteDate.HasValue)
    matchingCharges = matchingCharges
        .Where(c => c.ArrivalAt == deliveryNoteDate.Value);
if(chargeID.HasValue)
    matchingCharges = matchingCharges
        .Where(c => c.ChargeID == chargeID.Value);

This concise code will handle all combinations of filter, none,one,two,all.

Otherwise i'd have to use if-else and multiple conditions in a single Where.

This is the best that comes to my mind:

// important to keep code readable:
bool filterChannel = !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(channelAbbr);
bool filterDate = deliveryNoteDate.HasValue;
bool filterID = chargeID.HasValue;

if(!filterChannel && !filterDate && !filterID)
{
    // take all 
    matchingCharges = chargeList;
}
else
{
    matchingCharges = chargeList
        .Where(c => 
            filterChannel ? c.ChannelAbbreviation == channelAbbr : true
            && filterDate ? c.ArrivalAt == deliveryNoteDate.Value : true
            && filterID   ? c.ChargeID ==  chargeID.Value : true);
}

So what are the differences between both, are they negligible? Does the LINQ provider matter?

Answer 1

Semantically, there is no difference in the case of Where (contrast OrderBy, which needs more care). At the implementation level, it is simply multiple predicates with simple expression trees instead of a single predicate with a complex expression tree; but most engines will cope fine with either.

For what you are doing, multiple Where is ideal.

Answer 2

I was wondering the same thing. That's why I tried this in my own application.

I have a list with a lot of entries and this is what I tried:

//TEST 1
Stopwatch stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
stopWatch.Start();
var hoursLinq = _hourDataSource.Hours
            .Where(hour => hour.Id == profile.Id)
            .Where(hour => hour.DayName.Equals("Maandag"))
            .Where(hour => hour.Day == 1)
            .Select(hour => hour);
stopWatch.Stop();
// Get the elapsed time as a TimeSpan value.
TimeSpan ts1 = stopWatch.Elapsed;

//TEST 2
stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
stopWatch.Start();
var hoursLinq2 = _hourDataSource.Hours
            .Where(hour => hour.Id == profile.Id)
            .Select(hour => hour);

if (hoursLinq2.Count() != 0)
{
    var hoursLinq3 = _hourDataSource.Hours
            .Where(hour => hour.DayName.Equals("Maandag"))
            .Select(hour => hour);

    if (hoursLinq3.Count() != 0)
    {
        var hoursLinq4 = _hourDataSource.Hours
            .Where(hour => hour.Day == 1)
            .Select(hour => hour);
    }
}

stopWatch.Stop();
// Get the elapsed time as a TimeSpan value.
TimeSpan ts2 = stopWatch.Elapsed;

//TEST 3
stopWatch = new Stopwatch();
stopWatch.Start();
var hoursLinq5 = _hourDataSource.Hours
            .Where(hour => hour.Id == profile.Id &&
                            hour.DayName.Equals("Maandag") &&
                            hour.Day == 1)
            .Select(hour => hour);

stopWatch.Stop();
// Get the elapsed time as a TimeSpan value.
TimeSpan ts3 = stopWatch.Elapsed;

Each timespan (ts1, ts2, ts3) had such a small difference in elapsed time that I'm pretty sure you can ignore it.

I guess it's personal preference, I like the multiple where's because of it's readability