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C# Linq .Distinct() method not working [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
LINQ's Distinct() on a particular property
(23 answers)
Closed 20 days ago.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<Book> books = new List<Book>
{
new Book
{
Name="C# in Depth",
Authors = new List<Author>
{
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jon", LastName="Skeet"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jon", LastName="Skeet"
},
}
},
new Book
{
Name="LINQ in Action",
Authors = new List<Author>
{
new Author
{
FirstName = "Fabrice", LastName="Marguerie"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Steve", LastName="Eichert"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jim", LastName="Wooley"
},
}
},
};
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).Distinct();
foreach (var author in temp)
{
Console.WriteLine(author.FirstName + " " + author.LastName);
}
Console.Read();
}
}
public class Book
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Author> Authors { get; set; }
}
public class Author
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
return true;
//if (obj.GetType() != typeof(Author)) return false;
//else return ((Author)obj).FirstName == this.FirstName && ((Author)obj).FirstName == this.LastName;
}
}
This is based on an example in "LINQ in Action". Listing 4.16.
This prints Jon Skeet twice. Why? I have even tried overriding Equals method in Author class. Still Distinct does not seem to work. What am I missing?
Edit:
I have added == and != operator overload too. Still no help.
public static bool operator ==(Author a, Author b)
{
return true;
}
public static bool operator !=(Author a, Author b)
{
return false;
}

LINQ Distinct is not that smart when it comes to custom objects.
All it does is look at your list and see that it has two different objects (it doesn't care that they have the same values for the member fields).
One workaround is to implement the IEquatable interface as shown here.
If you modify your Author class like so it should work.
public class Author : IEquatable<Author>
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public bool Equals(Author other)
{
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
int hashFirstName = FirstName == null ? 0 : FirstName.GetHashCode();
int hashLastName = LastName == null ? 0 : LastName.GetHashCode();
return hashFirstName ^ hashLastName;
}
}
Try it as DotNetFiddle

The Distinct() method checks reference equality for reference types. This means it is looking for literally the same object duplicated, not different objects which contain the same values.
There is an overload which takes an IEqualityComparer, so you can specify different logic for determining whether a given object equals another.
If you want Author to normally behave like a normal object (i.e. only reference equality), but for the purposes of Distinct check equality by name values, use an IEqualityComparer. If you always want Author objects to be compared based on the name values, then override GetHashCode and Equals, or implement IEquatable.
The two members on the IEqualityComparer interface are Equals and GetHashCode. Your logic for determining whether two Author objects are equal appears to be if the First and Last name strings are the same.
public class AuthorEquals : IEqualityComparer<Author>
{
public bool Equals(Author left, Author right)
{
if((object)left == null && (object)right == null)
{
return true;
}
if((object)left == null || (object)right == null)
{
return false;
}
return left.FirstName == right.FirstName && left.LastName == right.LastName;
}
public int GetHashCode(Author author)
{
return (author.FirstName + author.LastName).GetHashCode();
}
}

Another solution without implementing IEquatable, Equals and GetHashCode is to use the LINQs GroupBy method and to select the first item from the IGrouping.
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors)
.GroupBy (y => y.FirstName + y.LastName )
.Select (y => y.First ());
foreach (var author in temp){
Console.WriteLine(author.FirstName + " " + author.LastName);
}

There is one more way to get distinct values from list of user defined data type:
YourList.GroupBy(i => i.Id).Select(i => i.FirstOrDefault()).ToList();
Surely, it will give distinct set of data

Distinct() performs the default equality comparison on objects in the enumerable. If you have not overridden Equals() and GetHashCode(), then it uses the default implementation on object, which compares references.
The simple solution is to add a correct implementation of Equals() and GetHashCode() to all classes which participate in the object graph you are comparing (ie Book and Author).
The IEqualityComparer interface is a convenience that allows you to implement Equals() and GetHashCode() in a separate class when you don't have access to the internals of the classes you need to compare, or if you are using a different method of comparison.

You've overriden Equals(), but make sure you also override GetHashCode()

The Above answers are wrong!!!
Distinct as stated on MSDN returns the default Equator which as stated The Default property checks whether type T implements the System.IEquatable interface and, if so, returns an EqualityComparer that uses that implementation. Otherwise, it returns an EqualityComparer that uses the overrides of Object.Equals and Object.GetHashCode provided by T
Which means as long as you overide Equals you are fine.
The reason you're code is not working is because you check firstname==lastname.
see https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/bb348436(v=vs.100).aspx and https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms224763(v=vs.100).aspx

You can achieve this several ways:
1. You may to implement the IEquatable interface as shown Enumerable.Distinct Method or you can see #skalb's answer at this post
2. If your object has not unique key, You can use GroupBy method for achive distinct object list, that you must group object's all properties and after select first object.
For example like as below and working for me:
var distinctList= list.GroupBy(x => new {
Name= x.Name,
Phone= x.Phone,
Email= x.Email,
Country= x.Country
}, y=> y)
.Select(x => x.First())
.ToList()
MyObject class is like as below:
public class MyClass{
public string Name{get;set;}
public string Phone{get;set;}
public string Email{get;set;}
public string Country{get;set;}
}
3. If your object's has unique key, you can only use the it in group by.
For example my object's unique key is Id.
var distinctList= list.GroupBy(x =>x.Id)
.Select(x => x.First())
.ToList()

You can use extension method on list which checks uniqueness based on computed Hash.
You can also change extension method to support IEnumerable.
Example:
public class Employee{
public string Name{get;set;}
public int Age{get;set;}
}
List<Employee> employees = new List<Employee>();
employees.Add(new Employee{Name="XYZ", Age=30});
employees.Add(new Employee{Name="XYZ", Age=30});
employees = employees.Unique(); //Gives list which contains unique objects.
Extension Method:
public static class LinqExtension
{
public static List<T> Unique<T>(this List<T> input)
{
HashSet<string> uniqueHashes = new HashSet<string>();
List<T> uniqueItems = new List<T>();
input.ForEach(x =>
{
string hashCode = ComputeHash(x);
if (uniqueHashes.Contains(hashCode))
{
return;
}
uniqueHashes.Add(hashCode);
uniqueItems.Add(x);
});
return uniqueItems;
}
private static string ComputeHash<T>(T entity)
{
System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider sh = new System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider();
string input = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entity);
byte[] originalBytes = ASCIIEncoding.Default.GetBytes(input);
byte[] encodedBytes = sh.ComputeHash(originalBytes);
return BitConverter.ToString(encodedBytes).Replace("-", "");
}

The Equal operator in below code is incorrect.
Old
public bool Equals(Author other)
{
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}
NEW
public override bool Equals(Object obj)
{
var other = obj as Author;
if (other is null)
{
return false;
}
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}

Instead of
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).Distinct();
Do
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).DistinctBy(f => f.Property);

c# differenciate two lists with object

I have these two lists result and resultNew:
data.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.Name, "Name");
data.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.Code, "Code");
data.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.WorkingStatus, "Working Status");
var result = (from x in data.Worksheet<Employee>("Tradesmen")
select x).ToList();
dataNew.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.Name, "Name");
dataNew.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.Code, "Code");
dataNew.AddMapping<Employee>(x => x.WorkingStatus, "Working Status");
var resultNew = (from x in dataNew.Worksheet<Employee>("On Leave")
select x).ToList();
where Employee is a simple c# code that contains code, name and workingStatus fields
I want to take the data which its code is the resultNew and not in the result
I tried this:
var newEmployees = resultNew.Except(Code = result.Select(s => s.Code)).ToList();
but I got syntax error:
System.Collections.Generic.List' does not contain a definition for 'Except' and the best extension method overload 'System.Linq.Enumerable.Except(System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable)' has some invalid arguments

You can create a HashSet for Code of new employees and then use it like:
HashSet<string> resultCodes = new HashSet<string>(result.Select(r => r.Code));
List<Employee> newEmployees = resultNew.Where(r => !resultCodes.Contains(r.Code))
.ToList();
You can also override Equals and GetHashCode for your class Employee base on property Code and then you can use Except like:
class Employee
{
protected bool Equals(Employee other)
{
return string.Equals(Code, other.Code);
}
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
if (ReferenceEquals(null, obj)) return false;
if (ReferenceEquals(this, obj)) return true;
if (obj.GetType() != this.GetType()) return false;
return Equals((Employee) obj);
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return (Code != null ? Code.GetHashCode() : 0);
}
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Code { get; set; }
public string WorkingStatus { get; set; }
}
and then:
var newEmployees = resultnew.Except(result).ToList();
Remember the above implementation of Equals and GetHashCode only considers Code property. See this question How do you implement GetHashCode for structure with two string, when both strings are interchangeable

How to check all properties of an object whether null or empty?

I have an object lets call it ObjectA
and that object has 10 properties and those are all strings.
var myObject = new {Property1="",Property2="",Property3="",Property4="",...}
is there anyway to check to see whether all these properties are null or empty?
So any built-in method that would return true or false?
If any single of them is not null or empty then the return would be false. If all of them are empty it should return true.
The idea is I do not want to write 10 if statement to control if those properties are empty or null.
Thanks

You can do it using Reflection
bool IsAnyNullOrEmpty(object myObject)
{
foreach(PropertyInfo pi in myObject.GetType().GetProperties())
{
if(pi.PropertyType == typeof(string))
{
string value = (string)pi.GetValue(myObject);
if(string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
{
return true;
}
}
}
return false;
}
Matthew Watson suggested an alternative using LINQ:
return myObject.GetType().GetProperties()
.Where(pi => pi.PropertyType == typeof(string))
.Select(pi => (string)pi.GetValue(myObject))
.Any(value => string.IsNullOrEmpty(value));

I suppose you want to make sure that all properties are filled in.
A better option is probably by putting this validation in the constructor of your class and throw exceptions if validation fails. That way you cannot create a class that is invalid; catch exceptions and handle them accordingly.
Fluent validation is a nice framework (http://fluentvalidation.codeplex.com) for doing the validation. Example:
public class CustomerValidator: AbstractValidator<Customer>
{
public CustomerValidator()
{
RuleFor(customer => customer.Property1).NotNull();
RuleFor(customer => customer.Property2).NotNull();
RuleFor(customer => customer.Property3).NotNull();
}
}
public class Customer
{
public Customer(string property1, string property2, string property3)
{
Property1 = property1;
Property2 = property2;
Property3 = property3;
new CustomerValidator().ValidateAndThrow();
}
public string Property1 {get; set;}
public string Property2 {get; set;}
public string Property3 {get; set;}
}
Usage:
try
{
var customer = new Customer("string1", "string", null);
// logic here
} catch (ValidationException ex)
{
// A validation error occured
}
PS - Using reflection for this kind of thing just makes your code harder to read. Using validation as shown above makes it explicitly clear what your rules are; and you can easily extend them with other rules.

The following code returns if any property is not null.
return myObject.GetType()
.GetProperties() //get all properties on object
.Select(pi => pi.GetValue(myObject)) //get value for the property
.Any(value => value != null); // Check if one of the values is not null, if so it returns true.

Here you go
var instOfA = new ObjectA();
bool isAnyPropEmpty = instOfA.GetType().GetProperties()
.Where(p => p.GetValue(instOfA) is string) // selecting only string props
.Any(p => string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace((p.GetValue(instOfA) as string)));
and here's the class
class ObjectA
{
public string A { get; set; }
public string B { get; set; }
}

A slightly different way of expressing the linq to see if all string properties of an object are non null and non empty:
public static bool AllStringPropertyValuesAreNonEmpty(object myObject)
{
var allStringPropertyValues =
from property in myObject.GetType().GetProperties()
where property.PropertyType == typeof(string) && property.CanRead
select (string) property.GetValue(myObject);
return allStringPropertyValues.All(value => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(value));
}

Note if you've got a data structural hierarchy and you want to test everything in that hierarchy, then you can use a recursive method. Here's a quick example:
static bool AnyNullOrEmpty(object obj) {
return obj == null
|| obj.ToString() == ""
|| obj.GetType().GetProperties().Any(prop => AnyNullOrEmpty(prop.GetValue(obj)));
}

To only check if all properties are null:
bool allPropertiesNull = !myObject.GetType().GetProperties().Any(prop => prop == null);

you can use reflection and extension methods to do this.
using System.Reflection;
public static class ExtensionMethods
{
public static bool StringPropertiesEmpty(this object value)
{
foreach (PropertyInfo objProp in value.GetType().GetProperties())
{
if (objProp.CanRead)
{
object val = objProp.GetValue(value, null);
if (val.GetType() == typeof(string))
{
if (val == "" || val == null)
{
return true;
}
}
}
}
return false;
}
}
then use it on any object with string properties
test obj = new test();
if (obj.StringPropertiesEmpty() == true)
{
// some of these string properties are empty or null
}

No, I don't think there is a method to do exactly that.
You'd be best writing a simple method that takes your object and returns true or false.
Alternatively, if the properties are all the same, and you just want to parse through them and find a single null or empty, perhaps some sort of collection of strings would work for you?

You can try the following query :
if the object is "referenceKey" (where few properties may be null )
referenceKey.GetType().GetProperties().Where(x => x.GetValue(referenceKey) == null)
I need to count the properties where the value is set to not Null, so I have used the following query :
var countProvidedReferenceKeys = referenceKey.GetType().GetProperties().Where(x => x.GetValue(referenceKey) != null).Count();

How to get a Distinct result using LINQ and C# using method syntax [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
How can I maintain type when using LINQ .Select in C#?
(4 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
The following code still does not return a DISTINCT result set. The equivalent SQL I am trying to accomplish is SELECT DISTINCT LEFT(Fac_Name, 6) AS ID, LEFT(Fac_Name, 3) AS Fac_Name
public List<Facility> GetFacilities() {
var facilities = new List<Facility>();
facilities = _facilityRepository.GetAll().ToList();
var facReturnList =
facilities.Where(x => x.Fac_Name = "Something")
.OrderBy(x => x.Fac_Name).ToList();
var facReturnList2 =
facReturnList.Select(x =>
new Facility { ID = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 6),
Fac_Name = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 3) })
.Distinct().ToList();
return facReturnList2;
}

The problem you have is that you're creating distinct reference values (which will return different hashcodes), even if the properties inside each reference are equal, the actual references themselves are distinct.
// fac1 and fac2 are the same reference, fac3 is a different reference.
var fac1 = new Facility { ID = "0", Fac_Name = "Hello" };
var fac2 = fac1;
var fac3 = new Facility { ID = "0", Fac_Name = "Hello" };
var facs = new List<Facility>() { fac1, fac2, fac3 };
foreach (var fac in facs.Distinct())
Console.WriteLine("Id: {0} | Name: {1}", fac.ID, fac.Fac_Name);
// OUTPUT
// Id: 0 | Name: Hello (NOTE: This is the value of fac1/fac2)
// Id: 0 | Name: Hello (This is the value of fac3)
To solve your dilemma, you should either:
Override the Object.GetHashCode() and the Object.Equals(Object) methods. Note that Distinct() ultimately uses the GetHashCode() to determine if something is distinct, but Equals(Object) and GetHashCode() should be overridden together.
Guidelines for Overloading Equals() and Operator ==
public class Facility
{
public string ID { get; set; }
public string Fac_Name { get; set; }
// This is just a rough example.
public override bool Equals(Object obj)
{
var fac = obj as Facility;
if (fac == null) return false;
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(this, fac)) return true;
return (this.ID == fac.ID) && (this.Fac_Name == fac.Fac_Name);
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
var hash = 13;
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(this.ID))
hash ^= ID.GetHashCode();
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(this.Fac_Name))
hash ^= Fac_Name.GetHashCode();
return hash;
}
}
Provide a custom IEqualityComparer<T>.
public class FacilityEqualityComparer : IEqualityComparer<Facility>
{
public bool Equals(Facility x, Facility y)
{
return (x.ID == y.ID) && (x.Fac_Name == y.Fac_Name);
}
public int GetHashCode(Facility fac)
{
var hash = 13;
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(this.ID))
hash ^= ID.GetHashCode();
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(this.Fac_Name))
hash ^= Fac_Name.GetHashCode();
return hash;
}
}
var facReturnList2 =
facReturnList.Select(x =>
new Facility { ID = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 6),
Fac_Name = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 3) })
.Distinct(new FacilityEqualityComparer()).ToList();
Also, some other things to note:
You're naming does not follow guidelines. Don't use underscores in property names, and ID should be Id.
Whichever way you decide to go with, you should look into using String.Equals(...) and specify a StringComparison value. I just used == equality comparison on strings to keep the post short and readable.

So the problem is that the Enumerable.Distinct method uses the default equality comparer - which is comparing hash codes - so it will be a distinct list regardless of the properties values. Build an equality comparer for that type:
public class FacilityEqualityComparer : IEqualityComparer<Facility>
{
public bool Equals(Facility fac1, Facility fac2)
{
return fac1.ID.Equals(fac2.ID) && fac1.Fac_Name.Equals(fac2.Fac_Name);
}
public int GetHashCode(Facility fac)
{
string hCode = fac.ID + fac.Fac_Name;
return hCode.GetHashCode();
}
}
and then when you use it, call it like this:
var facReturnList2 =
facReturnList.Select(x =>
new Facility { ID = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 6),
Fac_Name = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 3) })
.Distinct(new FacilityEqualityComparer()).ToList();
return facReturnList2;

Distinct uses the default equality comparer to check for equality. This means it's looking for reference equality, which obviously won't be there in your case.
So you'll either need to use a custom IEqualityComparer (see the overload for Distinct(), or you can replicate the functionality of Distinct() with a GroupBy() and a First():
facReturnList.Select(x =>
new Facility { ID = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 6),
Fac_Name = x.Fac_Name.Substring(0, 3)
})
.GroupBy(x => new{x.ID, x.Fac_Name})
.Select(y => y.First())
.ToList();
You could also Override the Equals method in your Facility class:
public override bool Equals(System.Object obj)
{
if (ReferenceEquals(null, obj)) return false;
if (ReferenceEquals(this, obj)) return true;
if (obj.GetType() != this.GetType()) return false;
Facility objAsFacility = obj as Facility;
return Equals(objAsFacility);
}
protected bool Equals(Facility other)
{
if (other.Fac_Name == this.Fac_Name)
return true;
else return false;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
return this.Fac_Name.GetHashCode();
//Or you might even want to this:
//return (this.ID + this.Fac_Name).GetHashCode();
}
I'd probably go with the overriding equality operator method.

Distinct not working with LINQ to Objects [duplicate]

This question already has answers here:
LINQ's Distinct() on a particular property
(23 answers)
Closed 23 days ago.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<Book> books = new List<Book>
{
new Book
{
Name="C# in Depth",
Authors = new List<Author>
{
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jon", LastName="Skeet"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jon", LastName="Skeet"
},
}
},
new Book
{
Name="LINQ in Action",
Authors = new List<Author>
{
new Author
{
FirstName = "Fabrice", LastName="Marguerie"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Steve", LastName="Eichert"
},
new Author
{
FirstName = "Jim", LastName="Wooley"
},
}
},
};
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).Distinct();
foreach (var author in temp)
{
Console.WriteLine(author.FirstName + " " + author.LastName);
}
Console.Read();
}
}
public class Book
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<Author> Authors { get; set; }
}
public class Author
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public override bool Equals(object obj)
{
return true;
//if (obj.GetType() != typeof(Author)) return false;
//else return ((Author)obj).FirstName == this.FirstName && ((Author)obj).FirstName == this.LastName;
}
}
This is based on an example in "LINQ in Action". Listing 4.16.
This prints Jon Skeet twice. Why? I have even tried overriding Equals method in Author class. Still Distinct does not seem to work. What am I missing?
Edit:
I have added == and != operator overload too. Still no help.
public static bool operator ==(Author a, Author b)
{
return true;
}
public static bool operator !=(Author a, Author b)
{
return false;
}

LINQ Distinct is not that smart when it comes to custom objects.
All it does is look at your list and see that it has two different objects (it doesn't care that they have the same values for the member fields).
One workaround is to implement the IEquatable interface as shown here.
If you modify your Author class like so it should work.
public class Author : IEquatable<Author>
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public bool Equals(Author other)
{
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}
public override int GetHashCode()
{
int hashFirstName = FirstName == null ? 0 : FirstName.GetHashCode();
int hashLastName = LastName == null ? 0 : LastName.GetHashCode();
return hashFirstName ^ hashLastName;
}
}
Try it as DotNetFiddle

The Distinct() method checks reference equality for reference types. This means it is looking for literally the same object duplicated, not different objects which contain the same values.
There is an overload which takes an IEqualityComparer, so you can specify different logic for determining whether a given object equals another.
If you want Author to normally behave like a normal object (i.e. only reference equality), but for the purposes of Distinct check equality by name values, use an IEqualityComparer. If you always want Author objects to be compared based on the name values, then override GetHashCode and Equals, or implement IEquatable.
The two members on the IEqualityComparer interface are Equals and GetHashCode. Your logic for determining whether two Author objects are equal appears to be if the First and Last name strings are the same.
public class AuthorEquals : IEqualityComparer<Author>
{
public bool Equals(Author left, Author right)
{
if((object)left == null && (object)right == null)
{
return true;
}
if((object)left == null || (object)right == null)
{
return false;
}
return left.FirstName == right.FirstName && left.LastName == right.LastName;
}
public int GetHashCode(Author author)
{
return (author.FirstName + author.LastName).GetHashCode();
}
}

Another solution without implementing IEquatable, Equals and GetHashCode is to use the LINQs GroupBy method and to select the first item from the IGrouping.
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors)
.GroupBy (y => y.FirstName + y.LastName )
.Select (y => y.First ());
foreach (var author in temp){
Console.WriteLine(author.FirstName + " " + author.LastName);
}

There is one more way to get distinct values from list of user defined data type:
YourList.GroupBy(i => i.Id).Select(i => i.FirstOrDefault()).ToList();
Surely, it will give distinct set of data

Distinct() performs the default equality comparison on objects in the enumerable. If you have not overridden Equals() and GetHashCode(), then it uses the default implementation on object, which compares references.
The simple solution is to add a correct implementation of Equals() and GetHashCode() to all classes which participate in the object graph you are comparing (ie Book and Author).
The IEqualityComparer interface is a convenience that allows you to implement Equals() and GetHashCode() in a separate class when you don't have access to the internals of the classes you need to compare, or if you are using a different method of comparison.

You've overriden Equals(), but make sure you also override GetHashCode()

The Above answers are wrong!!!
Distinct as stated on MSDN returns the default Equator which as stated The Default property checks whether type T implements the System.IEquatable interface and, if so, returns an EqualityComparer that uses that implementation. Otherwise, it returns an EqualityComparer that uses the overrides of Object.Equals and Object.GetHashCode provided by T
Which means as long as you overide Equals you are fine.
The reason you're code is not working is because you check firstname==lastname.
see https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/bb348436(v=vs.100).aspx and https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms224763(v=vs.100).aspx

You can achieve this several ways:
1. You may to implement the IEquatable interface as shown Enumerable.Distinct Method or you can see #skalb's answer at this post
2. If your object has not unique key, You can use GroupBy method for achive distinct object list, that you must group object's all properties and after select first object.
For example like as below and working for me:
var distinctList= list.GroupBy(x => new {
Name= x.Name,
Phone= x.Phone,
Email= x.Email,
Country= x.Country
}, y=> y)
.Select(x => x.First())
.ToList()
MyObject class is like as below:
public class MyClass{
public string Name{get;set;}
public string Phone{get;set;}
public string Email{get;set;}
public string Country{get;set;}
}
3. If your object's has unique key, you can only use the it in group by.
For example my object's unique key is Id.
var distinctList= list.GroupBy(x =>x.Id)
.Select(x => x.First())
.ToList()

You can use extension method on list which checks uniqueness based on computed Hash.
You can also change extension method to support IEnumerable.
Example:
public class Employee{
public string Name{get;set;}
public int Age{get;set;}
}
List<Employee> employees = new List<Employee>();
employees.Add(new Employee{Name="XYZ", Age=30});
employees.Add(new Employee{Name="XYZ", Age=30});
employees = employees.Unique(); //Gives list which contains unique objects.
Extension Method:
public static class LinqExtension
{
public static List<T> Unique<T>(this List<T> input)
{
HashSet<string> uniqueHashes = new HashSet<string>();
List<T> uniqueItems = new List<T>();
input.ForEach(x =>
{
string hashCode = ComputeHash(x);
if (uniqueHashes.Contains(hashCode))
{
return;
}
uniqueHashes.Add(hashCode);
uniqueItems.Add(x);
});
return uniqueItems;
}
private static string ComputeHash<T>(T entity)
{
System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider sh = new System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1CryptoServiceProvider();
string input = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(entity);
byte[] originalBytes = ASCIIEncoding.Default.GetBytes(input);
byte[] encodedBytes = sh.ComputeHash(originalBytes);
return BitConverter.ToString(encodedBytes).Replace("-", "");
}

The Equal operator in below code is incorrect.
Old
public bool Equals(Author other)
{
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}
NEW
public override bool Equals(Object obj)
{
var other = obj as Author;
if (other is null)
{
return false;
}
if (FirstName == other.FirstName && LastName == other.LastName)
return true;
return false;
}

Instead of
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).Distinct();
Do
var temp = books.SelectMany(book => book.Authors).DistinctBy(f => f.Property);