Remove duplicates from a List<T> in C# - c#

Anyone have a quick method for de-duplicating a generic List in C#?

If you're using .Net 3+, you can use Linq.
List<T> withDupes = LoadSomeData();
List<T> noDupes = withDupes.Distinct().ToList();

Perhaps you should consider using a HashSet.
From the MSDN link:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
class Program
{
static void Main()
{
HashSet<int> evenNumbers = new HashSet<int>();
HashSet<int> oddNumbers = new HashSet<int>();
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
// Populate numbers with just even numbers.
evenNumbers.Add(i * 2);
// Populate oddNumbers with just odd numbers.
oddNumbers.Add((i * 2) + 1);
}
Console.Write("evenNumbers contains {0} elements: ", evenNumbers.Count);
DisplaySet(evenNumbers);
Console.Write("oddNumbers contains {0} elements: ", oddNumbers.Count);
DisplaySet(oddNumbers);
// Create a new HashSet populated with even numbers.
HashSet<int> numbers = new HashSet<int>(evenNumbers);
Console.WriteLine("numbers UnionWith oddNumbers...");
numbers.UnionWith(oddNumbers);
Console.Write("numbers contains {0} elements: ", numbers.Count);
DisplaySet(numbers);
}
private static void DisplaySet(HashSet<int> set)
{
Console.Write("{");
foreach (int i in set)
{
Console.Write(" {0}", i);
}
Console.WriteLine(" }");
}
}
/* This example produces output similar to the following:
* evenNumbers contains 5 elements: { 0 2 4 6 8 }
* oddNumbers contains 5 elements: { 1 3 5 7 9 }
* numbers UnionWith oddNumbers...
* numbers contains 10 elements: { 0 2 4 6 8 1 3 5 7 9 }
*/

How about:
var noDupes = list.Distinct().ToList();
In .net 3.5?

Simply initialize a HashSet with a List of the same type:
var noDupes = new HashSet<T>(withDupes);
Or, if you want a List returned:
var noDupsList = new HashSet<T>(withDupes).ToList();

Sort it, then check two and two next to each others, as the duplicates will clump together.
Something like this:
list.Sort();
Int32 index = list.Count - 1;
while (index > 0)
{
if (list[index] == list[index - 1])
{
if (index < list.Count - 1)
(list[index], list[list.Count - 1]) = (list[list.Count - 1], list[index]);
list.RemoveAt(list.Count - 1);
index--;
}
else
index--;
}
Notes:
Comparison is done from back to front, to avoid having to resort list after each removal
This example now uses C# Value Tuples to do the swapping, substitute with appropriate code if you can't use that
The end-result is no longer sorted

I like to use this command:
List<Store> myStoreList = Service.GetStoreListbyProvince(provinceId)
.GroupBy(s => s.City)
.Select(grp => grp.FirstOrDefault())
.OrderBy(s => s.City)
.ToList();
I have these fields in my list: Id, StoreName, City, PostalCode
I wanted to show list of cities in a dropdown which has duplicate values.
solution: Group by city then pick the first one for the list.

It worked for me. simply use
List<Type> liIDs = liIDs.Distinct().ToList<Type>();
Replace "Type" with your desired type e.g. int.

As kronoz said in .Net 3.5 you can use Distinct().
In .Net 2 you could mimic it:
public IEnumerable<T> DedupCollection<T> (IEnumerable<T> input)
{
var passedValues = new HashSet<T>();
// Relatively simple dupe check alg used as example
foreach(T item in input)
if(passedValues.Add(item)) // True if item is new
yield return item;
}
This could be used to dedupe any collection and will return the values in the original order.
It's normally much quicker to filter a collection (as both Distinct() and this sample does) than it would be to remove items from it.

An extension method might be a decent way to go... something like this:
public static List<T> Deduplicate<T>(this List<T> listToDeduplicate)
{
return listToDeduplicate.Distinct().ToList();
}
And then call like this, for example:
List<int> myFilteredList = unfilteredList.Deduplicate();

In Java (I assume C# is more or less identical):
list = new ArrayList<T>(new HashSet<T>(list))
If you really wanted to mutate the original list:
List<T> noDupes = new ArrayList<T>(new HashSet<T>(list));
list.clear();
list.addAll(noDupes);
To preserve order, simply replace HashSet with LinkedHashSet.

This takes distinct (the elements without duplicating elements) and convert it into a list again:
List<type> myNoneDuplicateValue = listValueWithDuplicate.Distinct().ToList();

Use Linq's Union method.
Note: This solution requires no knowledge of Linq, aside from that it exists.
Code
Begin by adding the following to the top of your class file:
using System.Linq;
Now, you can use the following to remove duplicates from an object called, obj1:
obj1 = obj1.Union(obj1).ToList();
Note: Rename obj1 to the name of your object.
How it works
The Union command lists one of each entry of two source objects. Since obj1 is both source objects, this reduces obj1 to one of each entry.
The ToList() returns a new List. This is necessary, because Linq commands like Union returns the result as an IEnumerable result instead of modifying the original List or returning a new List.

As a helper method (without Linq):
public static List<T> Distinct<T>(this List<T> list)
{
return (new HashSet<T>(list)).ToList();
}

Here's an extension method for removing adjacent duplicates in-situ. Call Sort() first and pass in the same IComparer. This should be more efficient than Lasse V. Karlsen's version which calls RemoveAt repeatedly (resulting in multiple block memory moves).
public static void RemoveAdjacentDuplicates<T>(this List<T> List, IComparer<T> Comparer)
{
int NumUnique = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < List.Count; i++)
if ((i == 0) || (Comparer.Compare(List[NumUnique - 1], List[i]) != 0))
List[NumUnique++] = List[i];
List.RemoveRange(NumUnique, List.Count - NumUnique);
}

Installing the MoreLINQ package via Nuget, you can easily distinct object list by a property
IEnumerable<Catalogue> distinctCatalogues = catalogues.DistinctBy(c => c.CatalogueCode);

If you have tow classes Product and Customer and we want to remove duplicate items from their list
public class Product
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string ProductName { get; set; }
}
public class Customer
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string CustomerName { get; set; }
}
You must define a generic class in the form below
public class ItemEqualityComparer<T> : IEqualityComparer<T> where T : class
{
private readonly PropertyInfo _propertyInfo;
public ItemEqualityComparer(string keyItem)
{
_propertyInfo = typeof(T).GetProperty(keyItem, BindingFlags.GetProperty | BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.Public);
}
public bool Equals(T x, T y)
{
var xValue = _propertyInfo?.GetValue(x, null);
var yValue = _propertyInfo?.GetValue(y, null);
return xValue != null && yValue != null && xValue.Equals(yValue);
}
public int GetHashCode(T obj)
{
var propertyValue = _propertyInfo.GetValue(obj, null);
return propertyValue == null ? 0 : propertyValue.GetHashCode();
}
}
then, You can remove duplicate items in your list.
var products = new List<Product>
{
new Product{ProductName = "product 1" ,Id = 1,},
new Product{ProductName = "product 2" ,Id = 2,},
new Product{ProductName = "product 2" ,Id = 4,},
new Product{ProductName = "product 2" ,Id = 4,},
};
var productList = products.Distinct(new ItemEqualityComparer<Product>(nameof(Product.Id))).ToList();
var customers = new List<Customer>
{
new Customer{CustomerName = "Customer 1" ,Id = 5,},
new Customer{CustomerName = "Customer 2" ,Id = 5,},
new Customer{CustomerName = "Customer 2" ,Id = 5,},
new Customer{CustomerName = "Customer 2" ,Id = 5,},
};
var customerList = customers.Distinct(new ItemEqualityComparer<Customer>(nameof(Customer.Id))).ToList();
this code remove duplicate items by Id if you want remove duplicate items by other property, you can change nameof(YourClass.DuplicateProperty) same nameof(Customer.CustomerName) then remove duplicate items by CustomerName Property.

If you don't care about the order you can just shove the items into a HashSet, if you do want to maintain the order you can do something like this:
var unique = new List<T>();
var hs = new HashSet<T>();
foreach (T t in list)
if (hs.Add(t))
unique.Add(t);
Or the Linq way:
var hs = new HashSet<T>();
list.All( x => hs.Add(x) );
Edit: The HashSet method is O(N) time and O(N) space while sorting and then making unique (as suggested by #lassevk and others) is O(N*lgN) time and O(1) space so it's not so clear to me (as it was at first glance) that the sorting way is inferior

Might be easier to simply make sure that duplicates are not added to the list.
if(items.IndexOf(new_item) < 0)
items.add(new_item)

You can use Union
obj2 = obj1.Union(obj1).ToList();

Another way in .Net 2.0
static void Main(string[] args)
{
List<string> alpha = new List<string>();
for(char a = 'a'; a <= 'd'; a++)
{
alpha.Add(a.ToString());
alpha.Add(a.ToString());
}
Console.WriteLine("Data :");
alpha.ForEach(delegate(string t) { Console.WriteLine(t); });
alpha.ForEach(delegate (string v)
{
if (alpha.FindAll(delegate(string t) { return t == v; }).Count > 1)
alpha.Remove(v);
});
Console.WriteLine("Unique Result :");
alpha.ForEach(delegate(string t) { Console.WriteLine(t);});
Console.ReadKey();
}

There are many ways to solve - the duplicates issue in the List, below is one of them:
List<Container> containerList = LoadContainer();//Assume it has duplicates
List<Container> filteredList = new List<Container>();
foreach (var container in containerList)
{
Container duplicateContainer = containerList.Find(delegate(Container checkContainer)
{ return (checkContainer.UniqueId == container.UniqueId); });
//Assume 'UniqueId' is the property of the Container class on which u r making a search
if(!containerList.Contains(duplicateContainer) //Add object when not found in the new class object
{
filteredList.Add(container);
}
}
Cheers
Ravi Ganesan

Here's a simple solution that doesn't require any hard-to-read LINQ or any prior sorting of the list.
private static void CheckForDuplicateItems(List<string> items)
{
if (items == null ||
items.Count == 0)
return;
for (int outerIndex = 0; outerIndex < items.Count; outerIndex++)
{
for (int innerIndex = 0; innerIndex < items.Count; innerIndex++)
{
if (innerIndex == outerIndex) continue;
if (items[outerIndex].Equals(items[innerIndex]))
{
// Duplicate Found
}
}
}
}

David J.'s answer is a good method, no need for extra objects, sorting, etc. It can be improved on however:
for (int innerIndex = items.Count - 1; innerIndex > outerIndex ; innerIndex--)
So the outer loop goes top bottom for the entire list, but the inner loop goes bottom "until the outer loop position is reached".
The outer loop makes sure the entire list is processed, the inner loop finds the actual duplicates, those can only happen in the part that the outer loop hasn't processed yet.
Or if you don't want to do bottom up for the inner loop you could have the inner loop start at outerIndex + 1.

A simple intuitive implementation:
public static List<PointF> RemoveDuplicates(List<PointF> listPoints)
{
List<PointF> result = new List<PointF>();
for (int i = 0; i < listPoints.Count; i++)
{
if (!result.Contains(listPoints[i]))
result.Add(listPoints[i]);
}
return result;
}

All answers copy lists, or create a new list, or use slow functions, or are just painfully slow.
To my understanding, this is the fastest and cheapest method I know (also, backed by a very experienced programmer specialized on real-time physics optimization).
// Duplicates will be noticed after a sort O(nLogn)
list.Sort();
// Store the current and last items. Current item declaration is not really needed, and probably optimized by the compiler, but in case it's not...
int lastItem = -1;
int currItem = -1;
int size = list.Count;
// Store the index pointing to the last item we want to keep in the list
int last = size - 1;
// Travel the items from last to first O(n)
for (int i = last; i >= 0; --i)
{
currItem = list[i];
// If this item was the same as the previous one, we don't want it
if (currItem == lastItem)
{
// Overwrite last in current place. It is a swap but we don't need the last
list[i] = list[last];
// Reduce the last index, we don't want that one anymore
last--;
}
// A new item, we store it and continue
else
lastItem = currItem;
}
// We now have an unsorted list with the duplicates at the end.
// Remove the last items just once
list.RemoveRange(last + 1, size - last - 1);
// Sort again O(n logn)
list.Sort();
Final cost is:
nlogn + n + nlogn = n + 2nlogn = O(nlogn) which is pretty nice.
Note about RemoveRange:
Since we cannot set the count of the list and avoid using the Remove funcions, I don't know exactly the speed of this operation but I guess it is the fastest way.

Using HashSet this can be done easily.
List<int> listWithDuplicates = new List<int> { 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
HashSet<int> hashWithoutDuplicates = new HashSet<int> ( listWithDuplicates );
List<int> listWithoutDuplicates = hashWithoutDuplicates.ToList();

Using HashSet:
list = new HashSet<T>(list).ToList();

public static void RemoveDuplicates<T>(IList<T> list )
{
if (list == null)
{
return;
}
int i = 1;
while(i<list.Count)
{
int j = 0;
bool remove = false;
while (j < i && !remove)
{
if (list[i].Equals(list[j]))
{
remove = true;
}
j++;
}
if (remove)
{
list.RemoveAt(i);
}
else
{
i++;
}
}
}

If you need to compare complex objects, you will need to pass a Comparer object inside the Distinct() method.
private void GetDistinctItemList(List<MyListItem> _listWithDuplicates)
{
//It might be a good idea to create MyListItemComparer
//elsewhere and cache it for performance.
List<MyListItem> _listWithoutDuplicates = _listWithDuplicates.Distinct(new MyListItemComparer()).ToList();
//Choose the line below instead, if you have a situation where there is a chance to change the list while Distinct() is running.
//ToArray() is used to solve "Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute" error.
//List<MyListItem> _listWithoutDuplicates = _listWithDuplicates.ToArray().Distinct(new MyListItemComparer()).ToList();
return _listWithoutDuplicates;
}
Assuming you have 2 other classes like:
public class MyListItemComparer : IEqualityComparer<MyListItem>
{
public bool Equals(MyListItem x, MyListItem y)
{
return x != null
&& y != null
&& x.A == y.A
&& x.B.Equals(y.B);
&& x.C.ToString().Equals(y.C.ToString());
}
public int GetHashCode(MyListItem codeh)
{
return codeh.GetHashCode();
}
}
And:
public class MyListItem
{
public int A { get; }
public string B { get; }
public MyEnum C { get; }
public MyListItem(int a, string b, MyEnum c)
{
A = a;
B = b;
C = c;
}
}

I think the simplest way is:
Create a new list and add unique item.
Example:
class MyList{
int id;
string date;
string email;
}
List<MyList> ml = new Mylist();
ml.Add(new MyList(){
id = 1;
date = "2020/09/06";
email = "zarezadeh#gmailcom"
});
ml.Add(new MyList(){
id = 2;
date = "2020/09/01";
email = "zarezadeh#gmailcom"
});
List<MyList> New_ml = new Mylist();
foreach (var item in ml)
{
if (New_ml.Where(w => w.email == item.email).SingleOrDefault() == null)
{
New_ml.Add(new MyList()
{
id = item.id,
date = item.date,
email = item.email
});
}
}

Related

Assigning objects from another list to another group of lists

I have a list of something.
public List<Objects> obj;
The objects in this list need to be added to these other lists.
public List<Objects> objGroup1, objGroup2, objGroup3, objGroup4;
I assign them right now by doing this.
void AssignToGroups()
{
for(int i = 0; i < obj.Count ; i++)
{
//Need the first 4 for group 1 next 4 for group 2 and so on...
if(i < 4)
{
objGroup1.Add(obj[i]);
}
else if(i >= 4 && i < 8)
{
objGroup2.Add(obj[i]);
}
else if (i >= 8 && i < 12)
{
objGroup3.Add(obj[i]);
}
else if (i >= 12 && i < 16)
{
objGroup4.Add(obj[i]);
}
}
}
I'm planning on expanding and my method for grouping objects right now will fill my screen with endless if and else statements.
4 objects need to be assigned to each groups.
The objects in the group gets them in their order of arrangement.
e.g. group1 gets obj 1-4. group 2 get obj 5-8 and so on...
Does anyone have a better method of grouping objects like this?
You can utilize the Skip and Take methods.
You'll need the using System.Linq;:
objGroup1 = obj.Take(4).ToList(); //edited: use ToList() to keep the list format
objGroup2 = obj.Skip(4).Take(4).ToList();
objGroup3 = obj.Skip(8).Take(4).ToList();
objGroup4 = obj.Skip(12).Take(4).ToList();
objGroup5 = obj.Skip(16).Take(4).ToList();
Let me know if it works, since I am not able to test it now, except for the syntax.
You can also group the obj before Take(), such as
var orderedobj = obj.OrderBy(i => "some order criteria").ToList();
objGroup1 = orderedobj.Take(4);
...
I referenced my answer on How to get first N elements of a list in C#?.
EDIT:
In case you somehow do not want to use Linq, you can also use GetRange
objGroup1 = obj.GetRange(0, 4);
objGroup2 = obj.GetRange(3, 4); //since GetRange(index, count) has index starting from 0 instead of 1
objGroup3 = obj.GetRange(7, 4); //count stays the same since we always want 4 elements
objGroup4 = obj.GetRange(11, 4);
objGroup5 = obj.GetRange(15, 4);
Using Keyur's excellent answer, you could create a method that will create the groups for you, based on any source list, with a configurable group size:
private static List<List<object>> AssignToGroups(List<object> source, int groupSize)
{
var groups = new List<List<object>>();
if (source == null || groupSize < 1) return groups;
for (int i = 0; i < source.Count / groupSize; i++)
{
groups.Add(source.Skip(groupSize * i).Take(groupSize).ToList());
}
return groups;
}
Usage
private static void Main()
{
var mainList = new List<object>
{
"one", "two", "three", "four","five",
"six","seven","eight","nine","ten",
"eleven", "twelve", "thirteen", "fourteen","fifteen",
"sixteen","seventeen","eightteen","nineteen","twenty",
"twentyone", "twentytwo", "twentythree", "twentyfour","twentyfive",
"twentysix","twentyseven","twentyeight","twentynine","thirty",
"thirtyone", "thirtytwo", "thirtythree", "thirtyfour","thirtyfive",
"thirtysix","thirtyseven","thirtyeight","thirtynine","forty",
};
var groups = AssignToGroups(mainList, 4);
for (var i = 0; i < groups.Count; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine($"Group #{i + 1}: {string.Join(", ", groups[i])}");
}
Console.WriteLine("\nDone!\nPress any key to exit...");
Console.ReadKey();
}
Output

Know if order is changed after calling List.Sort()?

For example, if a List contains {1,2,3,4,5}, calling Sort() will not change anything. But if a list contains {1,2,4,3,5}, then calling Sort() will change the order.
Is there any way to know if Sort() has changed anything? The method returns void.
P.S.
Actually, I tested this before posting this question. The idea was that x is an item currently before y, so if it needs to return a negative value, a swapping occurs. Unfortunately, it did not work... but why?
class IntComp : IComparer<int>
{
public int Compare(int x, int y)
{
var result = x - y;
if (result < 0)
_IsChanged = true;
return result;
}
private bool _IsChanged = false;
public bool IsChanged()
{
var result = _IsChanged;
_IsChanged = false;
return result;
}
}
var list = new List<int>() {};
Random r = new Random();
for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
{
list.Add(r.Next());
}
var comparer = new IntComp();
Stopwatch w = new Stopwatch();
w.Start();
list.Sort(comparer);
w.Stop();
Debug.WriteLine(comparer.IsChanged() + ", " + w.Elapsed);
w.Restart();
list.Sort(comparer);
w.Stop();
Debug.WriteLine(comparer.IsChanged() + ", " + w.Elapsed);
Why not compare the original list with the sorted one?
var tmp = new List<MyType>(myList);
list.Sort();
if(tmp.SequenceEquals(list))
{
// both lists are equals so your list wasn´t modified by Sort
}
SequenceEquals will check if your two lists have the same elements in the exact same order.
EDIT: You could also write a simple method iterating your list and check if all elements are greater their ancestor. This should be the fasted way and avoids unnecessary iterations and copies of your list:
public bool IsOrdered<T>(this IEnumerable<T> src) where T: IComparable
{
for(int i = 1; i < myList.Count; i++)
{
if(myList[i - 1].CompareTo(myList[i]) == 1) return false;
}
return true;
}
If you want to keep only the original list in memory, what you can do is first check whether the list is sorted in the first place. If it is, no need for sorting and so it has not changed; if it is not sorted, you can sort it and then you know for sure it has changed.
With this, you don't have to create a clone of the list which is used to compare later, so this saves you some memory.

BinarySearch on List<T> seems to be returning strange result

I am very new to C#. I have created a List object and then I am performing BinarySearch on a particular item. But the search results seem to strange. Here is the code :
class Element
{
public int x;
public Element(int val) { x = val; }
}
class MyContainer : IComparable<MyContainer>
{
public Element elem;
public MyContainer(int val) { elem = new Element(val); }
public MyContainer(Element e) { elem = e; }
public int CompareTo(MyContainer obj)
{
if (elem.x < obj.elem.x) { return -1; }
else if (elem.x == obj.elem.x) { return 0; }
else { return 1; }
}
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
MyContainer container1 = new MyContainer(100);
MyContainer container2 = new MyContainer(21);
MyContainer container3 = new MyContainer(-122);
Element elemObj = new Element(-122);
List<MyContainer> list = new List<MyContainer>();
list.Add(new MyContainer(80));
list.Add(container1);
list.Add(container2);
list.Add(container3);
list.Add(new MyContainer(90));
foreach(MyContainer c in list) Console.WriteLine(c.elem.x);
if (list.Contains(container3) == true) Console.WriteLine("present");
else Console.WriteLine("NOT present");
Console.WriteLine("Search result:::"+list.BinarySearch(new MyContainer(elemObj)));
Console.WriteLine("Search result:::" + list.BinarySearch(container1));
Console.WriteLine("Search result:::" + list.BinarySearch(container2));
Console.WriteLine("Search result:::" + list.BinarySearch(container3));
}
}
The output is as follows :
80
100
21
-122
90
present
Search result:::-1
Search result:::-6
Search result:::2
Search result:::-1
Why is only the element corresponding to value 21 found and why not the others
Your list isn't sorted to start with. Binary search only works when the original input is sorted. The whole point is that you know that if list[x] = y, then list[a] <= y for all a < x and list[a] >= y for all a > x.
So either you need to sort your list first, or you need to choose a different way of searching (e.g. using a separate hash-based dictionary, or just doing a linear search).
Also note that your CompareTo method can be implemented a lot more simply:
public int CompareTo(MyContainer obj)
{
return elem.x.CompareTo(obj.elem.x);
}
A BinarySearch only works on a sorted list. Since your list is not sorted in the way it should be, it may or may not find the result correctly. You could fix this by sorting first:
list.Add(new MyContainer(90));
// after adding all elements
list.Sort();
foreach(MyContainer c in list) Console.WriteLine(c.elem.x);

How to get first N elements of a list in C#?

I would like to use Linq to query a bus schedule in my project, so that at any time I can get the next 5 bus arrival times. How can I limit my query to the first 5 results?
More generally, how can I take a slice of a list in C#? (In Python I would use mylist[:5] to get the first 5 elements.)
var firstFiveItems = myList.Take(5);
Or to slice:
var secondFiveItems = myList.Skip(5).Take(5);
And of course often it's convenient to get the first five items according to some kind of order:
var firstFiveArrivals = myList.OrderBy(i => i.ArrivalTime).Take(5);
In case anyone is interested (even if the question does not ask for this version), in C# 2 would be: (I have edited the answer, following some suggestions)
myList.Sort(CLASS_FOR_COMPARER);
List<string> fiveElements = myList.GetRange(0, 5);
Like pagination you can use below formule for taking slice of list or elements:
var slice = myList.Skip((pageNumber - 1) * pageSize)
.Take(pageSize);
Example 1: first five items
var pageNumber = 1;
var pageSize = 5;
Example 2: second five items
var pageNumber = 2;
var pageSize = 5;
Example 3: third five items
var pageNumber = 3;
var pageSize = 5;
If notice to formule parameters pageSize = 5 and pageNumber is changing, if you want to change number of items in slicing you change pageSize.
Working example:
[Test]
public void TestListLinqTake()
{
List<string> elements = new List<string>() { "storm", "earth", "fire"};
List<string> noErrorThrown = elements.Take(5).ToList();
List<string> someElements = elements.Take(2).ToList();
Assert.True(
someElements.First().Equals("storm") &&
someElements.Count == 2 &&
noErrorThrown.Count == 3);
}
Don't forget
using System.Linq;
Based on Bellarmine Head's comment
dataGridView1.DataSource = (from S in EE.Stagaire
join F in EE.Filiere on
S.IdFiliere equals F.IdFiliere
where S.Nom.StartsWith("A")
select new
{
ID=S.Id,
Name = S.Nom,
Prénon= S.Prenon,
Email=S.Email,
MoteDePass=S.MoteDePass,
Filiere = F.Filiere1
}).Take(1).ToList();
To take first 5 elements better use expression like this one:
var firstFiveArrivals = myList.Where([EXPRESSION]).Take(5);
or
var firstFiveArrivals = myList.Where([EXPRESSION]).Take(5).OrderBy([ORDER EXPR]);
It will be faster than orderBy variant, because LINQ engine will not scan trough all list due to delayed execution, and will not sort all array.
class MyList : IEnumerable<int>
{
int maxCount = 0;
public int RequestCount
{
get;
private set;
}
public MyList(int maxCount)
{
this.maxCount = maxCount;
}
public void Reset()
{
RequestCount = 0;
}
#region IEnumerable<int> Members
public IEnumerator<int> GetEnumerator()
{
int i = 0;
while (i < maxCount)
{
RequestCount++;
yield return i++;
}
}
#endregion
#region IEnumerable Members
System.Collections.IEnumerator System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
#endregion
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var list = new MyList(15);
list.Take(5).ToArray();
Console.WriteLine(list.RequestCount); // 5;
list.Reset();
list.OrderBy(q => q).Take(5).ToArray();
Console.WriteLine(list.RequestCount); // 15;
list.Reset();
list.Where(q => (q & 1) == 0).Take(5).ToArray();
Console.WriteLine(list.RequestCount); // 9; (first 5 odd)
list.Reset();
list.Where(q => (q & 1) == 0).Take(5).OrderBy(q => q).ToArray();
Console.WriteLine(list.RequestCount); // 9; (first 5 odd)
}
}
I think this is the correct answer, relevant to c# versions starting from 8.0:
Yes! It allows us to work exactly the same as in Python.
From c# 8.0 docs:
C# 8.0 feature specifications:
This feature is about delivering two new operators that allow constructing System.Index and System.Range objects, and using them to index/slice collections at runtime.
C# refer to the dot chars (..) as the range operator
Examples:
var array = new int[] { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 };
var slice1 = array[2..^3]; // array[new Range(2, new Index(3, fromEnd: true))]
var slice2 = array[..^3]; // array[Range.EndAt(new Index(3, fromEnd: true))]
var slice3 = array[2..]; // array[Range.StartAt(2)]
var slice4 = array[..]; // array[Range.All]

Fastest way to find common items across multiple lists in C#

Given the following:
List<List<Option>> optionLists;
what would be a quick way to determine the subset of Option objects that appear in all N lists? Equality is determined through some string property such as option1.Value == option2.Value.
So we should end up with List<Option> where each item appears only once.
Ok, this will find the list of Option objects that have a Value appearing in every list.
var x = from list in optionLists
from option in list
where optionLists.All(l => l.Any(o => o.Value == option.Value))
orderby option.Value
select option;
It doesn't do a "distinct" select so it'll return multiple Option objects, some of them with the same Value.
Building on Matt's answer, since we are only interested in options that all lists have in common, we can simply check for any options in the first list that the others share:
var sharedOptions =
from option in optionLists.First( ).Distinct( )
where optionLists.Skip( 1 ).All( l => l.Contains( option ) )
select option;
If an option list cannot contain duplicate entires, the Distinct call is unnecessary. If the lists vary greatly in size, it would be better to iterate over the options in the shortest list, rather than whatever list happens to be First. Sorted or hashed collections could be used to improve the lookup time of the Contains call, though it should not make much difference for a moderate number of items.
Here's a much more efficent implementation:
static SortedDictionary<T,bool>.KeyCollection FindCommon<T> (List<List<T>> items)
{
SortedDictionary<T, bool>
current_common = new SortedDictionary<T, bool> (),
common = new SortedDictionary<T, bool> ();
foreach (List<T> list in items)
{
if (current_common.Count == 0)
{
foreach (T item in list)
{
common [item] = true;
}
}
else
{
foreach (T item in list)
{
if (current_common.ContainsKey(item))
common[item] = true;
else
common[item] = false;
}
}
if (common.Count == 0)
{
current_common.Clear ();
break;
}
SortedDictionary<T, bool>
swap = current_common;
current_common = common;
common = swap;
common.Clear ();
}
return current_common.Keys;
}
It works by creating a set of all items common to all lists processed so far and comparing each list with this set, creating a temporary set of the items common to the current list and the list of common items so far. Effectively an O(n.m) where n is the number of lists and m the number of items in the lists.
An example of using it:
static void Main (string [] args)
{
Random
random = new Random();
List<List<int>>
items = new List<List<int>>();
for (int i = 0 ; i < 10 ; ++i)
{
List<int>
list = new List<int> ();
items.Add (list);
for (int j = 0 ; j < 100 ; ++j)
{
list.Add (random.Next (70));
}
}
SortedDictionary<int, bool>.KeyCollection
common = FindCommon (items);
foreach (List<int> list in items)
{
list.Sort ();
}
for (int i = 0 ; i < 100 ; ++i)
{
for (int j = 0 ; j < 10 ; ++j)
{
System.Diagnostics.Trace.Write (String.Format ("{0,-4:D} ", items [j] [i]));
}
System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine ("");
}
foreach (int item in common)
{
System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine (String.Format ("{0,-4:D} ", item));
}
}
Fastest to write :)
var subset = optionLists.Aggregate((x, y) => x.Intersect(y))
what about using a hashSet? that way you can do what you want in O(n) where n is the number of items in all the lists combined, and I think that's the fastest way to do it.
you just have to iterate over every list and insert the values you find into the hashset
When you insert a key that already exists you will receive false as the return value of the .add method, otherwise true is returned
Sort, then do something akin to a merge-sort.
Basically you would do this:
Retrieve the first item from each list
Compare the items, if equal, output
If any of the items are before the others, sort-wise, retrieve a new item from the corresponding list to replace it, otherwise, retrieve new items to replace them all, from all the list
As long as you still got items, go back to 2.
I don't have the performance stats, but if you don't want to roll your own method, various collections libraries have a 'Set' or 'Set(T)' object that offer the usual set procedures. (listed in the order I would use them).
IESI Collections (literally just Set classes)
PowerCollections (not updated in a while)
C5 (never personally used)
You can do this by counting occurrences of all items in all lists - those items whose occurrence count is equal to the number of lists, are common to all lists:
static List<T> FindCommon<T>(IEnumerable<List<T>> lists)
{
Dictionary<T, int> map = new Dictionary<T, int>();
int listCount = 0; // number of lists
foreach (IEnumerable<T> list in lists)
{
listCount++;
foreach (T item in list)
{
// Item encountered, increment count
int currCount;
if (!map.TryGetValue(item, out currCount))
currCount = 0;
currCount++;
map[item] = currCount;
}
}
List<T> result= new List<T>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<T,int> kvp in map)
{
// Items whose occurrence count is equal to the number of lists are common to all the lists
if (kvp.Value == listCount)
result.Add(kvp.Key);
}
return result;
}
/// <summary>
/// The method FindCommonItems, returns a list of all the COMMON ITEMS in the lists contained in the listOfLists.
/// The method expects lists containing NO DUPLICATE ITEMS.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="allSets"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static List<T> FindCommonItems<T>(IEnumerable<List<T>> allSets)
{
Dictionary<T, int> map = new Dictionary<T, int>();
int listCount = 0; // Number of lists.
foreach (IEnumerable<T> currentSet in allSets)
{
int itemsCount = currentSet.ToList().Count;
HashSet<T> uniqueItems = new HashSet<T>();
bool duplicateItemEncountered = false;
listCount++;
foreach (T item in currentSet)
{
if (!uniqueItems.Add(item))
{
duplicateItemEncountered = true;
}
if (map.ContainsKey(item))
{
map[item]++;
}
else
{
map.Add(item, 1);
}
}
if (duplicateItemEncountered)
{
uniqueItems.Clear();
List<T> duplicateItems = new List<T>();
StringBuilder currentSetItems = new StringBuilder();
List<T> currentSetAsList = new List<T>(currentSet);
for (int i = 0; i < itemsCount; i++)
{
T currentItem = currentSetAsList[i];
if (!uniqueItems.Add(currentItem))
{
duplicateItems.Add(currentItem);
}
currentSetItems.Append(currentItem);
if (i < itemsCount - 1)
{
currentSetItems.Append(", ");
}
}
StringBuilder duplicateItemsNamesEnumeration = new StringBuilder();
int j = 0;
foreach (T item in duplicateItems)
{
duplicateItemsNamesEnumeration.Append(item.ToString());
if (j < uniqueItems.Count - 1)
{
duplicateItemsNamesEnumeration.Append(", ");
}
}
throw new Exception("The list " + currentSetItems.ToString() + " contains the following duplicate items: " + duplicateItemsNamesEnumeration.ToString());
}
}
List<T> result= new List<T>();
foreach (KeyValuePair<T, int> itemAndItsCount in map)
{
if (itemAndItsCount.Value == listCount) // Items whose occurrence count is equal to the number of lists are common to all the lists.
{
result.Add(itemAndItsCount.Key);
}
}
return result;
}
#Skizz The method is not correct. It returns also items that are not common to all the lists in items.
Here is the corrected method:
/// <summary>.
/// The method FindAllCommonItemsInAllTheLists, returns a HashSet that contains all the common items in the lists contained in the listOfLists,
/// regardless of the order of the items in the various lists.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
/// <param name="listOfLists"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static HashSet<T> FindAllCommonItemsInAllTheLists<T>(List<List<T>> listOfLists)
{
if (listOfLists == null || listOfLists.Count == 0)
{
return null;
}
HashSet<T> currentCommon = new HashSet<T>();
HashSet<T> common = new HashSet<T>();
foreach (List<T> currentList in listOfLists)
{
if (currentCommon.Count == 0)
{
foreach (T item in currentList)
{
common.Add(item);
}
}
else
{
foreach (T item in currentList)
{
if (currentCommon.Contains(item))
{
common.Add(item);
}
}
}
if (common.Count == 0)
{
currentCommon.Clear();
break;
}
currentCommon.Clear(); // Empty currentCommon for a new iteration.
foreach (T item in common) /* Copy all the items contained in common to currentCommon.
* currentCommon = common;
* does not work because thus currentCommon and common would point at the same object and
* the next statement:
* common.Clear();
* will also clear currentCommon.
*/
{
if (!currentCommon.Contains(item))
{
currentCommon.Add(item);
}
}
common.Clear();
}
return currentCommon;
}
After searching the 'net and not really coming up with something I liked (or that worked), I slept on it and came up with this. My SearchResult is similar to your Option. It has an EmployeeId in it and that's the thing I need to be common across lists. I return all records that have an EmployeeId in every list. It's not fancy, but it's simple and easy to understand, just what I like. For small lists (my case) it should perform just fine—and anyone can understand it!
private List<SearchResult> GetFinalSearchResults(IEnumerable<IEnumerable<SearchResult>> lists)
{
Dictionary<int, SearchResult> oldList = new Dictionary<int, SearchResult>();
Dictionary<int, SearchResult> newList = new Dictionary<int, SearchResult>();
oldList = lists.First().ToDictionary(x => x.EmployeeId, x => x);
foreach (List<SearchResult> list in lists.Skip(1))
{
foreach (SearchResult emp in list)
{
if (oldList.Keys.Contains(emp.EmployeeId))
{
newList.Add(emp.EmployeeId, emp);
}
}
oldList = new Dictionary<int, SearchResult>(newList);
newList.Clear();
}
return oldList.Values.ToList();
}

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