Is there a way to get the difference between two sets of objects in c#

Question

I want to get the difference between two sets of ints in c#. Given s1 and s2 I want to return those ints which are in s1 and not in s2. I can do something such as:

    List<int> s1 = new List<int>();
    List<int> s2 = new List<int>();

    foreach (int i in s1)
    {
        if (s1.Contains(i))
        {
            //
        }
        else
        {
            //
        }
    }

But I was wondering if anyone can point out anything cleaner. I would like to do something such as

List<int> omitted = s1.Difference(s2);

Not sure if there is an existing method or a LINQ construct that anyone might be able to point out? Thank you.

Answer 1

I think you want HashSet.Except. That is, rather than use Lists, use HashSets, and then the operation is available. This is a better type if what you are representing is really a 'set' anyway. (If you already have a list, you can just create a 'new HashSet' out of it.)

Answer 2

IEnumerable<T> a, b;

var added = a.Except(b);
var removed = b.Except(a);

Answer 3

List<int> s1 = new List<int>();
List<int> s2 = new List<int>();

return sl.FindAll( i => !s2.Contains(i) )

Answer 4

from x in s1
where ! s2.contains(x)
select x

Answer 5

Here are two extension methods that might come handy when you need to find unordered differences between two IEnumerable (it's more or less the same as the answer given by leppie wrapper into extension methods):

public class EnumerableDifferences<T>
{
    public IEnumerable<T> Added { get; }
    public IEnumerable<T> Removed { get; }

    public EnumerableDifferences(IEnumerable<T> added, IEnumerable<T> removed)
    {
        Added = added;
        Removed = removed;
    }
}

public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
    public static HashSet<TSource> ToHashSet<TSource>(this IEnumerable<TSource> source, IEqualityComparer<TSource> comparer)
    {
        return new HashSet<TSource>(source, comparer);
    }

    public static IEnumerable<TSource> ExceptBy<TSource, TKey>(this IEnumerable<TSource> first, IEnumerable<TSource> second, Func<TSource, TKey> keySelector, IEqualityComparer<TKey> keyComparer = null)
    {
        return first
            .ExceptBy(keySelector, second.Select(keySelector), keyComparer);
    }

    public static IEnumerable<TSource> ExceptBy<TSource, TKey>(this IEnumerable<TSource> source, Func<TSource, TKey> keySelector, IEnumerable<TKey> keys, IEqualityComparer<TKey> keyComparer = null)
    {
        var secondKeys = keys.ToHashSet(keyComparer);

        foreach (var firstItem in source)
        {
            var firstItemKey = keySelector(firstItem);

            if (!secondKeys.Contains(firstItemKey))
            {
                yield return firstItem;
            }
        }
    }

    public static EnumerableDifferences<TSource> DifferencesBy<TSource, TKey>(this IEnumerable<TSource> first, IEnumerable<TSource> second, Func<TSource, TKey> keySelector, IEqualityComparer<TKey> keyComparer = null)
    {
        keyComparer = keyComparer ?? EqualityComparer<TKey>.Default;

        var removed = first.ExceptBy(second, keySelector, keyComparer);
        var added = second.ExceptBy(first, keySelector, keyComparer);

        var result = new EnumerableDifferences<TSource>(added, removed);

        return result;
    }

    public static EnumerableDifferences<TSource> Differences<TSource>(this IEnumerable<TSource> first, IEnumerable<TSource> second, IEqualityComparer<TSource> comparer = null)
    {
        return first
            .DifferencesBy(second, x => x, comparer);
    }
}

public static class Program
{
    public static void Main(params string[] args)
    {
        var l1 = new[] { 'a', 'b', 'c' };
        var l2 = new[] { 'a', 'd', 'c' };

        var result = l1.Differences(l2);

        Console.ReadKey();
    }
}

Answer 6

Another useful API, get the symmetric difference:

HashSet.SymmetricExceptWith()