How to merge 2 List<T> and removing duplicate values from it in C#

Question

I have two lists List that I need to combine in third list and remove duplicate values from that lists

A bit hard to explain, so let me show an example of what the code looks like and what I want as a result, in sample I use int type not ResultAnalysisFileSql class.

first_list = [1, 12, 12, 5]

second_list = [12, 5, 7, 9, 1]

The result of combining the two lists should result in this list: resulting_list = [1, 12, 5, 7, 9]

You'll notice that the result has the first list, including its two "12" values, and in second_list has an additional 12, 1 and 5 value.

ResultAnalysisFileSql class

[Serializable]
    public partial class ResultAnalysisFileSql
    {
        public string FileSql { get; set; }

        public string PathFileSql { get; set; }

        public List<ErrorAnalysisSql> Errors { get; set; }

        public List<WarningAnalysisSql> Warnings{ get; set; }

        public ResultAnalysisFileSql()
        {

        }

        public ResultAnalysisFileSql(string fileSql)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fileSql)
                || fileSql.Trim().Length == 0)
            {
                throw new ArgumentNullException("fileSql", "fileSql is null");
            }

            if (!fileSql.EndsWith(Utility.ExtensionFicherosErrorYWarning))
            {
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("fileSql", "Ruta de fichero Sql no tiene extensión " + Utility.ExtensionFicherosErrorYWarning);
            }

            PathFileSql = fileSql;
            FileSql = ObtenerNombreFicheroSql(fileSql);
            Errors = new List<ErrorAnalysisSql>();
            Warnings= new List<WarningAnalysisSql>();
        }

        private string ObtenerNombreFicheroSql(string fileSql)
        {
            var f = Path.GetFileName(fileSql);
            return f.Substring(0, f.IndexOf(Utility.ExtensionFicherosErrorYWarning));
        }


        public override bool Equals(object obj)
        {
            if (obj == null)
                return false;
            if (!(obj is ResultAnalysisFileSql))
                return false;

            var t = obj as ResultAnalysisFileSql;
            return t.FileSql== this.FileSql
                && t.PathFileSql == this.PathFileSql
                && t.Errors.Count == this.Errors.Count
                && t.Warnings.Count == this.Warnings.Count;
        }


    }

Any sample code for combine and removing duplicates ?

Ruzich

Answer 1

Have you had a look at Enumerable.Union

This method excludes duplicates from the return set. This is different behavior to the Concat method, which returns all the elements in the input sequences including duplicates.

List<int> list1 = new List<int> { 1, 12, 12, 5};
List<int> list2 = new List<int> { 12, 5, 7, 9, 1 };
List<int> ulist = list1.Union(list2).ToList();

// ulist output : 1, 12, 5, 7, 9

Doud

@Dr TJ: Do your person Class implements IEqualityComparer<T>? If so, you'll need to check your GetHashCode and Equals methods. See the Remarks section of msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb341731.aspx. – Older

Important to note because I ran into issues using this on 2 different collections: "You can't union two different types, unless one inherits from the other" from https://mcmap.net/q/128599/-need-to-cast-explicitly-thru-anonymous-type-in-union which yielded a cannot be inferred from the usage error. – Darell

Answer 2

why not simply eg

var newList = list1.Union(list2)/*.Distinct()*//*.ToList()*/;

oh ... according to the documentation you can leave out the .Distinct()

This method excludes duplicates from the return set

Quisling

Answer 3

Union has not good performance : this article describe about compare them with together

var dict = list2.ToDictionary(p => p.Number);
foreach (var person in list1)
{
        dict[person.Number] = person;
}
var merged = dict.Values.ToList();

Lists and LINQ merge: 4820ms
Dictionary merge: 16ms
HashSet and IEqualityComparer: 20ms
LINQ Union and IEqualityComparer: 24ms

Falsity

Also another benefit of using a dictionary merge -> I have two list coming back from DB data. And my data has a timestamp field, which is different in the two lists of data. With the union I get duplicates due to the timestamp being different. But with the merge I can decide which unique field I want consider in the dictionary. +1 – Satanism

Can vary by processor speed, depends what kind of CPU you have. – Ronrona

And at the end of the article it says, "I prefer LINQ Union because it communicates intent very clearly." ;) (also, there was only a 8 ms difference) – Kenspeckle

For small lists where the difference is negligible, Union results in cleaner and more readable code. Spending time to hyper-optimise code when it's not slow may incur a maintenance penalty down the road. – Carpous

Answer 4

Use Linq's Union:

using System.Linq;
var l1 = new List<int>() { 1,2,3,4,5 };
var l2 = new List<int>() { 3,5,6,7,8 };
var l3 = l1.Union(l2).ToList();

Algorism

Answer 5

    List<int> first_list = new List<int>() {
        1,
        12,
        12,
        5
    };

    List<int> second_list = new List<int>() {
        12,
        5,
        7,
        9,
        1
    };

    var result = first_list.Union(second_list);

Unmusical

Answer 6

To elaborate on fateme maddahi's answer.

If list2 contains two or more items with duplicate Number properties you will get an exception with ToDictionary:

[System.ArgumentException: An item with the same key has already been added.]

To avoid this, use this instead:

var dict = list2
    .GroupBy(p => p.Number, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
    .ToDictionary(g => g.Key, g => g.First(), StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);

foreach (var person in list1)
{
        dict[person.Number] = person;
}
var merged = dict.Values.ToList();

Source

Kujawa