Question

I have an array string[] with values that are mostly convertible to integers.

var values = new [] {"", "1", "2", "a", "3"};

I need to convert values to an array of integers, discarding any items that aren’t convertible. So I end up with

var numbers = new [] {1, 2, 3};

What would be the most efficient (quickest and clean code) way to do this?

Answer 1

var numbers = values.Select(
    s => {
        int n;
        if (!int.TryParse((s ?? string.Empty), out n)) 
        {
            return (int?)null;
        }
        return (int?)n;
    }
)
.Where(n => n != null)
.Select(n => n.Value)
.ToArray();