Question

I have a table with a list of countries in it that I’m using to populate a dropdown.

How can I construct a LINQ query so it will return the list of countries from that table in alphabetical order, with the exception of placing USA at the top?

So, if the table contained:

Sweden
USA
Mexico
Denmark

It would return:

USA
Denmark
Mexico
Sweden

?

Answer 1

You can use the country’s name as a secondary ordering:

return countries.OrderBy(c => GetPrimaryOrdering(c)).ThenBy(c => c.Name);

int GetPrimaryOrdering(Country country) 
{ 
    return country.Name == "USA" ? 0 : 1
}