Getting the "diff" between two arrays in C#?
from the MSDN 101 LINQ samples....
public void Linq52() {
int[] numbersA = { 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 };
int[] numbersB = { 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 };
IEnumerable<int> aOnlyNumbers = numbersA.Except(numbersB);
Console.WriteLine("Numbers in first array but not second array:");
foreach (var n in aOnlyNumbers) {
Console.WriteLine(n);
}
}
Here are the benchmarks of LINQ extension methods. The results were obtained during the development of a real program.
The tests: 2 lists (lst1 and lst2) each approximately 250000 objects. Each object (class Key) contains a string and an integer. The second list mostly contains the same entries as the first one, but some new entries are added and some are removed.
I tested the Except extension method.
var except = lst2.Except(lst1);
List lst = except.ToList();
These 2 lines produced 600 items list of “new additions”. I timed it using the StopWatch object. The speed is astonishing:220 ms. The computer I used is by no means a “speedy Gonzales”. Core 2 Duo T7700 – 2.4GHz.
Note:
Here is the class Key, which implements IEquatable i-face.
public class Key : IEquatable<Key>
{
public int Index { get; private set; }
public string Name { get; private set; }
public Key(string keyName, int sdIndex)
{
this.Name = keyName;
this.Index = sdIndex;
}
// IEquatable implementation
public bool Equals(Key other)
{
//Check whether the compared object is null.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(other, null)) return false;
//Check whether the compared object references the same data.
if (Object.ReferenceEquals(this, other)) return true;
//Check whether the products' properties are equal.
return Index.Equals(other.Index) && Name.Equals(other.Name);
}
// If Equals() returns true for a pair of objects
// then GetHashCode() must return the same value for these objects.
public override int GetHashCode()
{
//Get hash code for the name field if it is not null.
int hashKeyName = Name == null ? 0 : Name.GetHashCode();
//Get hash code for the index field.
int hashKeyIndex = Index.GetHashCode();
//Calculate the hash code for the Key.
return hashKeyName ^ hashKeyIndex;
}
}
If you've got LINQ available to you, you can use Except
and Distinct
. The sets you asked for in the question are respectively:
- array2.Except(array1)
- array1.Except(array2)
- array1.Intersect(array2)