Sorting a List with OrderBy

Question

Why won't the code below sort my list?

List<string> lst = new List<string>() { "bac", "abc", "cab" };
lst.OrderBy(p => p.Substring(0));

Answer 1

since OrderBy returns IOrderedEnumerable you should do:

lst = lst.OrderBy(p => p.Substring(0)).ToList();

you can also do the following:

lst.Sort();

Answer 2

You are confusing LINQ operations with a method that changes the variable it is applied to (i.e. an instance method of the object).

LINQ operations (i.e. the .OrderBy) returns a query. It does not perform the operation on your object (i.e. lst).

You need to assign the result of that query back to your variable:

lst = lst.OrderBy(p => p).ToList();

in LINQ lingo.