anagram_finder.cs in C#

Group words by their sorted letters and the anagrams find themselves.

// anagram_finder: group a word list by sorted letters, print the families
var words = new[]
{
    "listen", "silent", "enlist", "google", "banana",
    "stressed", "desserts", "elbow", "below", "state", "taste",
};

var families = words
    .GroupBy(w => string.Concat(w.OrderBy(c => c)))
    .Where(g => g.Count() > 1)
    .OrderByDescending(g => g.Count())
    .ThenBy(g => g.Key)
    .ToList();

Console.WriteLine($"{words.Length} words in");
foreach (var family in families)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"  {string.Join(" = ", family)}");
}

var covered = families.Sum(f => f.Count());
Console.WriteLine($"{covered} words share their letters with another");

How it works

string.Concat(w.OrderBy(c => c)) is the canonical-form key.
Groups larger than one are anagram families.
Ordering by size, then key, makes the output stable.

Keywords and builtins used here

foreach
in
new
string
var

The run, in numbers

Lines: 22
Characters to type: 626
Tokens: 141
Three-star pace: 90 tpm

At the three-star pace of 90 tokens a minute, this run takes about 94 seconds.

Type this snippet

Step 2 of 2 in Encore, step 17 of 17 in LINQ in depth.

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