下面是一个用于测试的初始化小集合的代码示例:

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        List<Order> orders = new List<Order>
        {
            new Order
            {
                OrderID = "orderID1",
                OrderLines = new List<OrderLine>
                {
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU1",
                        Quantity = 1
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU2",
                        Quantity = 2
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU3",
                        Quantity = 3
                    }
                }
            },
            new Order
            {
                OrderID = "orderID2",
                OrderLines = new List<OrderLine>
                {
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU4",
                        Quantity = 4
                    },
                    new OrderLine
                    {
                        ProductSKU = "SKU5",
                        Quantity = 5
                    }
                }
            }
        };

        //required result is the list of all SKUs in orders
        List<string> allSKUs = new List<string>();

        //With Select case 2 foreach loops are required
        var flattenedOrdersLinesSelectCase = orders.Select(o => o.OrderLines);
        foreach (var flattenedOrderLine in flattenedOrdersLinesSelectCase)
        {
            foreach (OrderLine orderLine in flattenedOrderLine)
            {
                allSKUs.Add(orderLine.ProductSKU);
            }
        }

        //With SelectMany case only one foreach loop is required
        allSKUs = new List<string>();
        var flattenedOrdersLinesSelectManyCase = orders.SelectMany(o => o.OrderLines);
        foreach (var flattenedOrderLine in flattenedOrdersLinesSelectManyCase)
        {
            allSKUs.Add(flattenedOrderLine.ProductSKU);
        }

       //If the required result is flattened list which has OrderID, ProductSKU and Quantity,
       //SelectMany with selector is very helpful to get the required result
       //and allows avoiding own For loops what according to my experience do code faster when
       // hundreds of thousands of data rows must be operated
        List<OrderLineForReport> ordersLinesForReport = (List<OrderLineForReport>)orders.SelectMany(o => o.OrderLines,
            (o, ol) => new OrderLineForReport
            {
                OrderID = o.OrderID,
                ProductSKU = ol.ProductSKU,
                Quantity = ol.Quantity
            }).ToList();
    }
}
class Order
{
    public string OrderID { get; set; }
    public List<OrderLine> OrderLines { get; set; }
}
class OrderLine
{
    public string ProductSKU { get; set; }
    public int Quantity { get; set; }
}
class OrderLineForReport
{
    public string OrderID { get; set; }
    public string ProductSKU { get; set; }
    public int Quantity { get; set; }
}

想想这个例子:

        var array = new string[2]
        {
            "I like what I like",
            "I like what you like"
        };
        //query1 returns two elements sth like this:
        //fisrt element would be array[5]  :[0] = "I" "like" "what" "I" "like"
        //second element would be array[5] :[1] = "I" "like" "what" "you" "like"
        IEnumerable<string[]> query1 = array.Select(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

        //query2 return back flat result sth like this :
        // "I" "like" "what" "you"
        IEnumerable<string> query2 = array.SelectMany(s => s.Split(' ')).Distinct();

因此，正如你所看到的，像“I”或“like”这样的重复值已从query2中删除，因为“SelectMany”将在多个序列上平坦和投影。 但是query1返回字符串数组序列。由于query1中有两个不同的数组(第一个和第二个元素)，因此不会删除任何东西。

只是为了另一种观点，可能会帮助一些函数式程序员:

选择是映射 SelectMany是绑定的(或flatMap的Scala/Kotlin人)

Some SelectMany可能不需要。以下2个查询给出相同的结果。

Customers.Where(c=>c.Name=="Tom").SelectMany(c=>c.Orders)

Orders.Where(o=>o.Customer.Name=="Tom")

对于一对多关系，

如果从“1”开始，则需要SelectMany，它将平展many。 如果从“Many”开始，则不需要SelectMany。(仍然能够从“1”中过滤，这也比以下标准的连接查询更简单)

from o in Orders
join c in Customers on o.CustomerID equals c.ID
where c.Name == "Tom"
select o

SelectMany有几个重载。其中之一允许您在遍历层次结构时跟踪父节点和子节点之间的任何关系。

示例:假设您有以下结构:League -> Teams -> Player。

您可以很容易地返回一个平坦的播放器集合。但是你可能会失去任何关于玩家所在团队的信息。

幸运的是，有一个重载用于此目的:

var teamsAndTheirLeagues = 
         from helper in leagues.SelectMany
               ( l => l.Teams
                 , ( league, team ) => new { league, team } )
                      where helper.team.Players.Count > 2 
                           && helper.league.Teams.Count < 10
                           select new 
                                  { LeagueID = helper.league.ID
                                    , Team = helper.team 
                                   };

前面的例子来自Dan的IK博客。我强烈建议你看一看。

再举一个如何使用SelectMany + Select来累积子数组对象数据的例子。

假设我们有一些带着手机的用户:

class Phone { 
    public string BasePart = "555-xxx-xxx"; 
}

class User { 
    public string Name = "Xxxxx";
    public List<Phone> Phones; 
}

现在我们需要选择所有用户的所有手机的basepart:

var usersArray = new List<User>(); // array of arrays
List<string> allBaseParts = usersArray.SelectMany(ua => ua.Phones).Select(p => p.BasePart).ToList();