linq - How to get total count of children of a class containing Dictionary of same type? -

i have 'node' class follows:

public class node { public readonly idictionary<string, node> _nodes = new dictionary<string, node>();  public string path { get; set; }             } 

i want total child count of _nodes of object of above class. there can level of depths. let suppose create object as:

node obj = new node(); 

after iterating, wish total no of nodes @ levels of depth. tried following not working:

foreach (var item in obj._nodes)  {  count += item.value._nodes.selectmany(list => list.value._nodes).distinct().count();  } 

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a typical solution problem create recursive method, this:

public class node {     public readonly idictionary<string, node> _nodes         = new dictionary<string, node>();      public int gettotalchildrencount()     {         return _nodes.values.sum(n => n.gettotalchildrencount() + 1);     } } 

+ 1 part used count node itself, apart number of children.

i've omitted call distinct function. won't work, node doesn't have equals , gethashcode method overridden.