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Combining values of two dictionaries in C# with distinct keys

I am having difficulty combining two dictionaries into a dictionary with two values combined to a list for identical keys. For example, having D1 and D2
D1 = {2:"a",
3:"b",
4: "c"}
D2 = {1:"e",
2:"f",
4:"h",
5:"i"}
I would like to create D3.
D3= { 1:["", "e"]
2:["a", "f"]
3:["b", ""]
4:["c":"h"]
5:["", "i"]}
Thank you.

This can be done in a single Linq expression like so:
Flatten and concatenate both d1 and d2 to a single flat sequence of (Int32,String) value-tuples.
Re-group them by the Int32 key (this is the main step).
Then convert each group into a separate output dictionary entry.
Dictionary<Int32,String> d1 = new Dictionary<Int32,String>()
{
{ 2, "a" },
{ 3, "b" },
{ 4, "c" },
};
Dictionary<Int32,String> d2 = new Dictionary<Int32,String>()
{
{ 1, "e" },
{ 2, "f" },
{ 4, "h" },
{ 5, "i" },
};
Dictionary<Int32,List<String>> d3 = Array
.Empty<( Int32 k, String v )>()
// Step 1:
.Concat( d1.Select( kvp => ( k: kvp.Key, v: kvp.Value ) ) )
.Concat( d2.Select( kvp => ( k: kvp.Key, v: kvp.Value ) ) )
// Step 2:
.GroupBy( t => t.k )
// Step 3:
.ToDictionary(
grp => grp.Key,
grp => grp.Select( t => t.v ).OrderBy( v => v ).ToList()
);
An advantage of this approach is that it works for any number of duplicated values (not just two). Also, the use of ValueTuple means this approach should have fewer heap-allocations.
Screenshot proof of it working in LinqPad:
The expression can be made more succint - I use a more verbose style myself, but if you want to be cryptic about it by re-using KeyValuePair instead of ValueTuple, and if you don't care about ordering, then you can do this:
var d3 = d1
.Concat( d2 )
.GroupBy( kvp => kvp.Key )
.ToDictionary( g => g.Key, g => g.Select( kvp => kvp.Value ).ToList() );

Simplest solution would be with Dictionary.Keys
var D1 = new Dictionary<int,string>(){{2,"a"}, {3,"b"},{4,"c"}};
var D2 = new Dictionary<int,string>(){{1,"e"},{2,"f"}, {4,"h"},{5,"i"}};
var keys = D1.Keys.Union(D2.Keys).OrderBy(key => key);
var test = keys.Select(key => new {Key = key, Value= new string[] {D1.ContainsKey(key) ? D1[key] : "", D2.ContainsKey(key) ? D2[key] : ""} });
Console.WriteLine(test);
Interactive: https://rextester.com/UXQ51844
Alternatively, you could do something similar to this: LINQ - Full Outer Join

Sounds to be a job for LINQ. Here is one possibility to solve this issue:
public class Element
{
public int Index { get; set; }
public string Value { get; set; }
}
public class GroupedElement
{
public int Index { get; set; }
public IReadOnlyList<string> Values { get; set; }
}
public static class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
var d1 = new[]
{
new Element { Index = 2, Value = "a" },
new Element { Index = 3, Value = "b" },
new Element { Index = 4, Value = "c" },
};
var d2 = new[]
{
new Element { Index = 1, Value = "e" },
new Element { Index = 2, Value = "f" },
new Element { Index = 4, Value = "h" },
new Element { Index = 5, Value = "i" },
};
var result = d1.Concat(d2)
.GroupBy(element => element.Index)
.Select(group => new GroupedElement { Index = group.Key, Values = group.Select(g => g.Value).ToList() })
.ToList();
foreach (var item in result)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{item.Index}: {string.Join(",", item.Values)}");
}
}
}

I think this is simpler without LINQ (LINQ is a hammer, not every problem is a nail)
Let's loop from 1 to 5, putting a new List for each int. The list is inited with d1's value and d2's value
var d3 = new Dictionary<int, List<string>>();
for(int x=1;x<6;x++)
d3[x] = new() { d1.GetValueOrDefault(x,""), d2.GetValueOrDefault(x,"") };
If your ints aren't always contiguous you could (use a bit of LINQ 😀 and..)
foreach(int x in d1.Keys.Union(d2.Keys))
d3[x] = new() { d1.GetValueOrDefault(x,""), d2.GetValueOrDefault(x,"") };

This doesn't need another answer the others answers are plenty good enough and well done, however here is another (convoluted) approach
Given
var d1 = new Dictionary<int, string> {{2, "a"}, {3, "b"}, {4, "c"}};
var d2 = new Dictionary<int, string> { { 1, "e" }, { 2, "f" }, { 4, "h" }, { 5, "i" } };
Usage
static string[] Stuff((string, string)[] v) =>
new[] {v[0].Item1 ?? v.ElementAtOrDefault(1).Item1 ?? "", v[0].Item2 ?? v.ElementAtOrDefault(1).Item2 ?? "" };
var result = d1
.Select(x => (x.Key, (x.Value,(string)null)))
.Concat(d2.Select(x => (x.Key, ((string)null, x.Value ))))
.GroupBy(element => element.Key)
.ToDictionary(x => x.Key, x => Stuff(x.Select(y =>y.Item2).ToArray()))
Output
foreach (var item in result.OrderBy(x => x.Key))
Console.WriteLine($"{item.Key}: {string.Join(",", item.Value)}");
---
1: ,e
2: a,f
3: b,
4: c,h
5: ,i

Please see, here is another approach for this query -
Input -
Dictionary<int, string> first_dict = new Dictionary<int, string>()
{
{ 2,"a" },
{ 3,"b" },
{ 4, "c"}
};
Dictionary<int, string> second_dict = new Dictionary<int, string>()
{
{ 1,"e" },
{ 2,"f" },
{ 4, "h"},
{ 5, "i"}
};
First, I got common keys from both dictionaries like this -
var allKeys = first_dict.Concat(second_dict).OrderBy(b => b.Key).Select(b => b.Key).Distinct().ToList();
and then I created two another dictionaries and inserted data into them like this -
Dictionary<int, string> first_dict_res = new Dictionary<int, string>();
Dictionary<int, string> second_dict_res = new Dictionary<int, string>();
foreach (var keyItem in allKeys)
{
var first_dict_res_value = (first_dict.ContainsKey(keyItem)) ? first_dict[keyItem] : null;
first_dict_res.Add(keyItem, first_dict_res_value);
var second_dict_res_value = (second_dict.ContainsKey(keyItem)) ? second_dict[keyItem] : null;
second_dict_res.Add(keyItem, second_dict_res_value);
}
and then I concatenated the result from both dictionaries to get the desired result-
var res_dict = first_dict_res.Concat(second_dict_res).GroupBy(b => b.Key)
.Select(c => new { key = c.Key, values = string.Join(",", c.Select(b => b.Value)) }).ToList();

Using Linq Select to create a list that contains more items than the original list

I have a list of items. For example (although the list could be any length):
var inputList = new List<Input1>()
{
new Input1() { Test = "a" },
new Input1() { Test = "b" }
};
What I want to do is create a new list of:
a1, a2, b8, b9
That is the value of Test (i.e. a) with a suffix based on the value of Test.
In that order. Obviously, this is a minimum workable example, not the actual problem. So I'd like to use something like the .Select to split the data - something like this:
var outputList = inputList.Select(x =>
{
if (x.Test == "a")
{
return new Input1() { Test = "a1" };
//return new Input1() { Test = "a2" };
}
else if (x.Test == "b")
{
return new Input1() { Test = "b8" };
//return new Input1() { Test = "b9" };
}
else
{
return x;
}
});
Input1 for completeness:
class Input1
{
public string Test { get; set; }
}
That is, to return a list that contains items that were not in the original list.
I realise I can use a foreach, but I'm interested if there's a better / more concise way.

Suppose you have a method that transforms your single input into multiple inputs:
public static Input1[] Transform(Input1 x)
{
if (x.Test == "a") return new[] {new Input1("a1"), new Input1("a2")};
if (x.Test == "b") return new[] {new Input1("b8"), new Input1("b9")};
return new[] {x};
}
(This is just from your toy example - I guess you actually need a transformation that is more meaningful.)
Then you can just use SelectMany to get your desired result in the correct order:
inputList
.SelectMany(Transform);

If you're using C# 8.0 or above, you may use switch expression as follows:
var outputList =
inputList.SelectMany(x => x.Test switch
{
"a" => new[] { new Input1() { Test = "a1" }, new Input1() { Test = "a2" } },
"b" => new[] { new Input1() { Test = "b8" }, new Input1() { Test = "b9" } },
_ => new[] { x }
})
.ToList();

IEnumerable.Select() when attribute is known only at runtime

Say I have a data class like this and a list of its objects:
public class DataSet
{
public int A { get; set; }
public string B { get; set; }
public double C { get; set; }
}
var data = new List<DataSet>
{
new DataSet() { A = 1, B = "One", C = 1.1 },
new DataSet() { A = 2, B = "Two", C = 2.2 },
new DataSet() { A = 3, B = "Three", C = 3.3 }
};
I would like to do a Select() on the list, based on different properties. For example, if I need a list of property A, I could do this easily:
var listA = data.Select(x => x.A).ToList();
All good so far.
But in my program, I need to do the above, only, I wouldn't know whether I need a list of A or B or C until runtime. This 'knowledge' of what to select is stored in a list of strings, and I need to iterate it and extract only the appropriate lists. Something like this:
// GetKeys() will return the keys that I need to extract.
// So at one time keyList could have "A" and "B", another time "B" and "C" etc.
List<string> keyList = GetKeys();
foreach (var key in keyList)
{
// What do I do here?
data.Select(x =>???).ToList();
}
Is this possible at all? I'm fine with even a non-LINQ solution, if it achieves my goal.
EDIT:
Clarifying the requirement.
The end result I want is a separate list based on each 'key' mentioned above. So, something like
List<List<object>>
The count in outer list would be the count of keyList.
The inner list would have as many items as in DataSet.

This would probably not be the most efficient solution, but you could use Reflection for a fully dynamic solution:
private static List<List<object>> SelectDynamicData<T>(IEnumerable<T> data, List<string> properties)
{
// get the properties only once per call
// this isn't fast
var wantedProperties = typeof(T)
.GetProperties()
.Where(x => properties.Contains(x.Name))
.ToArray();
var result = new Dictionary<string, List<object>>();
foreach (var item in data)
{
foreach (var wantedProperty in wantedProperties)
{
if (!result.ContainsKey(wantedProperty.Name))
{
result.Add(wantedProperty.Name, new List<object>());
}
result[wantedProperty.Name].Add(wantedProperty.GetValue(item));
}
}
return result.Select(x => x.Value).ToList();
}
And, of course, you'd need to do a double foreach or a LINQ query to print that. For example:
var data = new List<DataSet>
{
new DataSet() { A = 1, B = "One", C = 1.1 },
new DataSet() { A = 2, B = "Two", C = 2.2 },
new DataSet() { A = 3, B = "Three", C = 3.3 }
};
var selectedData = SelectDynamicData(data, new List<string> { "A", "C" });
foreach (var list in selectedData)
{
foreach (object item in list)
{
Console.Write(item + ", ");
}
Console.WriteLine();
}

Using Creating Expression Trees by Using the API you can build an expression tree to represent the linq query you were hard coding in order to make it more dynamic.
Expression<Func<TModel, object>> GetPropertyExpression<TModel>(string propertyName) {
// Manually build the expression tree for
// the lambda expression v => v.PropertyName.
// (TModel v) =>
var parameter = Expression.Parameter(typeof(TModel), "v");
// (TModel v) => v.PropertyName
var property = Expression.Property(parameter, propertyName);
// (TModel v) => (object) v.PropertyName
var cast = Expression.Convert(property, typeof(object));
var expression = Expression.Lambda<Func<TModel, object>>(cast, parameter);
return expression;
}
Review the comments to understand the building of the expression tree.
This now can be used with the data to extract the desired result.
Following similar to what was provided in another answer it would be simplified to
List<List<object>> SelectDynamicData<T>(IEnumerable<T> data, List<string> properties) {
return properties
.Select(_ => data.Select(GetPropertyExpression<T>(_).Compile()).ToList())
.ToList();
}
Both methods are displayed in the following example
[TestMethod]
public void TestMethod1() {
var data = new List<DataSet>
{
new DataSet() { A = 1, B = "One", C = 1.1 },
new DataSet() { A = 2, B = "Two", C = 2.2 },
new DataSet() { A = 3, B = "Three", C = 3.3 }
};
var propertyKnownAtRuntime = "A";
var expression = GetPropertyExpression<DataSet>(propertyKnownAtRuntime);
var listA = data.Select(expression.Compile()).ToList();
//Produces
// { 1, 2, 3}
var listAC = SelectDynamicData(data, new List<string> { "A", "C" });
//Produces
//{
// { 1, 2, 3},
// { 1.1, 2.2, 3.3 }
//}
}

You can use reflection, for example
string key = "A";
var query = data.Select(x =>
{
var prop = x.GetType().GetProperty(key); //NOTE: if key does not exist this will return null
return prop.GetValue(x);
});
foreach (var value in query)
{
Console.WriteLine(value); //will print 1, 2, 3
}

LINQ OrderBy - Custom

I have some data like
ID Sequence customIndex
1 1 0
2 2 0
3 3 2
4 4 1
5 5 0
I need to use sequence in order by when customIndex is zero other wise use customIndex.
So result should be ID in order of 1,2,4,3,5.
I need LINQ implementation using Lambda. I tried some solution but could not implement.
Posting duplicate and deleting previous one, because of wrong formatting the meaning of question got changed and I received bunch of negative votes.
Added code at dotnet fiddle:
https://stable.dotnetfiddle.net/fChl40

The answer is based on assumption, that CustomIndex is greater or equals to zero:
var result =
data.OrderBy(x => x.CustomIndex==0 ? x.Sequence :
data.Where(y => y.CustomIndex==0 && y.Sequence < x.Sequence)
.Max(y => (int?)y.Sequence))
.ThenBy(x => x.CustomIndex);

This is working for provided test data:
l.OrderBy(a => a.customIndex != 0 ?
list.Where(b => b.Sequence < a.Sequence && b.customIndex == 0)
.OrderByDescending(c => c.Sequence)
.FirstOrDefault()
.Sequence : a.Sequence)
.ThenBy(c=>c.customIndex )
.ToList();
The idea is to order non zero values by first preceding zero valued rows, and then by non zero values itself.

This is something I wanted:
public static void Main()
{
List<Data> data = new List<Data>();
data.Add(new Data{ Id=1, Sequence=1, CustomIndex=0});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=5, Sequence=5, CustomIndex=0});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=6, Sequence=6, CustomIndex=2});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=2, Sequence=2, CustomIndex=0});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=3, Sequence=3, CustomIndex=2});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=4, Sequence=4, CustomIndex=1});
data.Add(new Data{ Id=7, Sequence=7, CustomIndex=1});
int o = 0;
var result = data
.OrderBy(x=>x.Sequence).ToList()
.OrderBy((x)=> myCustomSort(x, ref o) )
;
result.ToList().ForEach(x=> Console.WriteLine(x.Id));
}
public static float myCustomSort(Data x, ref int o){
if(x.CustomIndex==0){
o = x.Sequence;
return x.Sequence ;
}
else
return float.Parse(o + "."+ x.CustomIndex);
}
Sample code: https://stable.dotnetfiddle.net/fChl40
I will refine it further

Based on your question and reply to my comment, I understand you need to clusterize the items' collection, then consider Sequence and CustomIndex on all items of each cluster.
Once clustered (split into blocks depending on a specific criterion) you can merge them back into a unique collection, but while doing that you can manipulate each cluster independently the way you need.
public static class extCluster
{
public static IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<bool, T[]>> Clusterize<T>(this IEnumerable<T> self, Func<T, bool> clusterizer)
{
// Prepare temporary data
var bLastCluster = false;
var cluster = new List<T>();
// loop all items
foreach (var item in self)
{
// Compute cluster kind
var bItemCluster = clusterizer(item);
// If last cluster kind is different from current
if (bItemCluster != bLastCluster)
{
// If previous cluster was not empty, return its items
if (cluster.Count > 0)
yield return new KeyValuePair<bool, T[]>(bLastCluster, cluster.ToArray());
// Store new cluster kind and reset items
bLastCluster = bItemCluster;
cluster.Clear();
}
// Add current item to cluster
cluster.Add(item);
}
// If previous cluster was not empty, return its items
if (cluster.Count > 0)
yield return new KeyValuePair<bool, T[]>(bLastCluster, cluster.ToArray());
}
}
// sample
static class Program
{
public class Item
{
public Item(int id, int sequence, int _customIndex)
{
ID = id; Sequence = sequence; customIndex = _customIndex;
}
public int ID, Sequence, customIndex;
}
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var aItems = new[]
{
new Item(1, 1, 0),
new Item(2, 2, 0),
new Item(3, 3, 2),
new Item(4, 4, 1),
new Item(5, 5, 0)
};
// Split items into clusters
var aClusters = aItems.Clusterize(item => item.customIndex != 0);
// Explode clusters and sort their items
var result = aClusters
.SelectMany(cluster => cluster.Key
? cluster.Value.OrderBy(item => item.customIndex)
: cluster.Value.OrderBy(item => item.Sequence));
}
}

It ain't pretty, but it exemplifies what you were asking for, I think:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
public class Program
{
public static void Main()
{
List<Data> data = new List<Data>();
data.Add(new Data { Id = 1, Sequence = 1, CustomIndex = 0 });
data.Add(new Data { Id = 2, Sequence = 2, CustomIndex = 0 });
data.Add(new Data { Id = 3, Sequence = 3, CustomIndex = 2 });
data.Add(new Data { Id = 4, Sequence = 4, CustomIndex = 1 });
data.Add(new Data { Id = 5, Sequence = 5, CustomIndex = 0 });
//List of items where the sequence is what counts
var itemsToPlaceBySequence = data.Where(x => x.CustomIndex == 0).OrderBy(x => x.Sequence).ToList();
//List of items where the custom index counts
var itemsToPlaceByCustomIndex = data.Where(x => x.CustomIndex != 0).OrderBy(x => x.CustomIndex).ToList();
//Array to hold items
var dataSlots = new Data[data.Count];
//Place items by sequence
foreach(var dataBySequence in itemsToPlaceBySequence) {
dataSlots[dataBySequence.Sequence - 1] = dataBySequence ;
}
//Find empty data slots and place remaining items in CustomIndex order
foreach (var dataByCustom in itemsToPlaceByCustomIndex) {
var index = dataSlots.ToList().IndexOf(null);
dataSlots[index] = dataByCustom ;
}
var result = dataSlots.ToList();
result.ForEach(x => Console.WriteLine(x.Id));
var discard = Console.ReadKey();
}
public class Data
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public int Sequence { get; set; }
public int CustomIndex { get; set; }
}
}

The ordering you want to do (order partly on CustomIndex and partly on Sequence) doesn't work like that. But this should be close to what you want. Order first by CustomIndex, and then by Sequence.
var result = data.OrderBy(x => x.CustomIndex).ThenBy(x => x.Sequence);

Combining lists in linq

in linq, is it possible to combine many lists (of the same type), such that two lists,
list 1 = {a,b,c} and list 2 = {x,y,z}
turns into {[1,a] , [1,b] , [1,c] , [2,x] , [2,y] , [2,z] }
where [] represents a pair containing a "list identifier"
The problem is from having decks of arbitrary cards, where each deck is a list in a collection of lists.
I'm trying to create a query such that I can select only cards in a certain deck, or cards similar to 2 or more decks.
This is probably a duplicate question, but I don't know how to search for the question further then I already have.

List<List<int>> lists;
var combined = lists.Select((l, idx) => new { List = l, Idx = idx })
.SelectMany(p => p.List.Select(i => Tuple.Create(p.Idx + 1, i)));

var list1 = new List<string>() {a,b,c};
var list2 = new List<string>() {x,y,z};
var combined = list1.Select(x => new { id = 1, v = x }).Concat(list2.Select(x => new { id = 2, v = x }));

Normally I'd suggest Enumerable.Zip for combining multiple lists, however you seem to actually want to concatenate multiple lists with a list counter.
public IEnumerable<Tuple<int,T>> Combine<T>(params IEnumerable<T>[] lists) {
return lists.Select((x,i) => x.Select(y => Tuple.Create(i+1,y))).SelectMany (l =>l);
}
UPDATE
Completely missed that SelectMany has the index option so the above code can be written as
public IEnumerable<Tuple<int,T>> Combine<T>(params IEnumerable<T>[] lists) {
return lists.SelectMany((x,i) => x.Select(y => Tuple.Create(i+1,y)));
}
Then you can do
var list1 = new List<string> { "a", "b", "c" };
var list2 = new List<string> { "x", "y", "z" };
var combined = Combine(list1,list2);
Combined will be enumerable of tuples, with Item1 being the list index identifier (starting at 1) and Item2 being the value.
This method will handle multiple lists so you could just as easily call it with:
var list3 = new List<string> { "f", "g" };
var combined = Combine(list1,list2,list3);

You can merge the lists like:
var first = new List<string> {"a","b","c"};
var second = new List<string> {"x","y","z"};
var merged = first.Select(item => new { ListIndex = 1, Value = item}).ToList();
merged.AddRange(second.Select(item => new { ListIndex = 2, Value = item});
//or use concat
var merged = first.Select(item => new { ListIndex = 1, Value = item});
.Concat(second.Select(item => new { ListIndex = 2, Value = item});
Alternatively if you have the sources in something like:
List<List<string>> lists = new List<List<string>>
{
new List<string> {"a","b","c"},
new List<string> {"x","y","z"}
};
you can do:
var merged = lists.SelectMany((item, index) =>
item.Select(s => new { ListIndex = index, Value = s}));
Note that this will produce a 0-based list, so if you really need a 1-base list, just do ListIndex = index +1.
Also, if you will use this a lot, I would create it as an specific entity, something like
struct ListIdentValue
{
public int ListIndex {get; private set;}
public string Value {get; private set;}
public ListIdentValue(int listIndex, string value) {...}
}

Try using Concat
new[] {'a','b','c'}
.Select(v=>new Tuple<int,char>(1, v))
.Concat(
new[] {'x','y','z'}.Select(v=>new Tuple<int,char>(2, v))
)

string[] a = { "a", "b", "c" };
string[] b = { "x", "z", "y" };
var t =
(
from ai in a
select new { listNo = 1, Item = ai }
).Union
(
from bi in b
select new { listNo = 2, Item = bi }
);
or
var t =
(
from ai in a
select new object[] { 1, ai }
).Union
(
from bi in b
select new object[] { 2, bi }
);