How to take all but the last element in a sequence using LINQ?

Question

I don't know a Linq solution - But you can easily code the algorithm by yourself using generators (yield return).

public static IEnumerable<T> TakeAllButLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source) {
    var it = source.GetEnumerator();
    bool hasRemainingItems = false;
    bool isFirst = true;
    T item = default(T);

    do {
        hasRemainingItems = it.MoveNext();
        if (hasRemainingItems) {
            if (!isFirst) yield return item;
            item = it.Current;
            isFirst = false;
        }
    } while (hasRemainingItems);
}

static void Main(string[] args) {
    var Seq = Enumerable.Range(1, 10);

    Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", Seq.Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()));
    Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", Seq.TakeAllButLast().Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()));
}

Or as a generalized solution discarding the last n items (using a queue like suggested in the comments):

public static IEnumerable<T> SkipLastN<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int n) {
    var  it = source.GetEnumerator();
    bool hasRemainingItems = false;
    var  cache = new Queue<T>(n + 1);

    do {
        if (hasRemainingItems = it.MoveNext()) {
            cache.Enqueue(it.Current);
            if (cache.Count > n)
                yield return cache.Dequeue();
        }
    } while (hasRemainingItems);
}

static void Main(string[] args) {
    var Seq = Enumerable.Range(1, 4);

    Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", Seq.Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()));
    Console.WriteLine(string.Join(", ", Seq.SkipLastN(3).Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()));
}

The Enumerable.SkipLast(IEnumerable<TSource>, Int32) method was added in .NET Standard 2.1. It does exactly what you want.

IEnumerable<int> sequence = GetSequenceFromExpensiveSource();

var allExceptLast = sequence.SkipLast(1);

From https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.linq.enumerable.skiplast

Returns a new enumerable collection that contains the elements from source with the last count elements of the source collection omitted.

As an alternative to creating your own method and in a case the elements order is not important, the next will work:

var result = sequence.Reverse().Skip(1);

Because I'm not a fan of explicitly using an Enumerator, here's an alternative. Note that the wrapper methods are needed to let invalid arguments throw early, rather than deferring the checks until the sequence is actually enumerated.

public static IEnumerable<T> DropLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");

    return InternalDropLast(source);
}

private static IEnumerable<T> InternalDropLast<T>(IEnumerable<T> source)
{
    T buffer = default(T);
    bool buffered = false;

    foreach (T x in source)
    {
        if (buffered)
            yield return buffer;

        buffer = x;
        buffered = true;
    }
}

As per Eric Lippert's suggestion, it easily generalizes to n items:

public static IEnumerable<T> DropLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int n)
{
    if (source == null)
        throw new ArgumentNullException("source");

    if (n < 0)
        throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("n", 
            "Argument n should be non-negative.");

    return InternalDropLast(source, n);
}

private static IEnumerable<T> InternalDropLast<T>(IEnumerable<T> source, int n)
{
    Queue<T> buffer = new Queue<T>(n + 1);

    foreach (T x in source)
    {
        buffer.Enqueue(x);

        if (buffer.Count == n + 1)
            yield return buffer.Dequeue();
    }
}

Where I now buffer before yielding instead of after yielding, so that the n == 0 case does not need special handling.

Nothing in the BCL (or MoreLinq I believe), but you could create your own extension method.

public static IEnumerable<T> TakeAllButLast<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source)
{
    using (var enumerator = source.GetEnumerator())
        bool first = true;
        T prev;
        while(enumerator.MoveNext())
        {
            if (!first)
                yield return prev;
            first = false;
            prev = enumerator.Current;
        }
    }
}

With C# 8.0 you can use Ranges and indices for that.

var allButLast = sequence[..^1];

By default C# 8.0 requires .NET Core 3.0 or .NET Standard 2.1 (or above). Check this thread to use with older implementations.