Joining common values from two sequences using the LINQ Intersect operator

Say you have the following two sequences:

string[] first = new string[] {"hello", "hi", "good evening", "good day", "good morning", "goodbye" };
string[] second = new string[] {"whatsup", "how are you", "hello", "bye", "hi"};

If you’d like to find the common elements in the two arrays and put them to another sequence then it’s very easy with the Intersect operator:

IEnumerable<string> intersect = first.Intersect(second);
foreach (string value in intersect)
{
	Console.WriteLine(value);
}

The ‘intersect’ variable will include “hello” and “hi” as they are common elements to both arrays.

The intersect operator uses a comparer to determine whether two elements are equal. In this case .NET has a built-in default comparer to compare strings so you didn’t have to implement any custom comparer. However, if you have custom objects in the two arrays then the default object reference comparer won’t be enough:

public class Singer
{
	public int Id { get; set; }
	public string FirstName { get; set; }
	public string LastName { get; set; }
}

IEnumerable<Singer> singersA = new List<Singer>() 
{
	new Singer(){Id = 1, FirstName = "Freddie", LastName = "Mercury"} 
	, new Singer(){Id = 2, FirstName = "Elvis", LastName = "Presley"}
	, new Singer(){Id = 3, FirstName = "Chuck", LastName = "Berry"}

};

IEnumerable<Singer> singersB = new List<Singer>() 
{
	new Singer(){Id = 1, FirstName = "Freddie", LastName = "Mercury"} 
	, new Singer(){Id = 2, FirstName = "Elvis", LastName = "Presley"}
	, new Singer(){Id = 4, FirstName = "Ray", LastName = "Charles"}
	, new Singer(){Id = 5, FirstName = "David", LastName = "Bowie"}
};

IEnumerable<Singer> singersIntersection = singersA.Intersect(singersB);
foreach (Singer s in singersIntersection)
{
	Console.WriteLine(s.Id);
}

The singersIntersection sequence will be empty of course as each object is different as far as their references are concerned. This is where another prototype of the operator enters the scene where you can define your own comparison function:

public class DefaultSingerComparer : IEqualityComparer<Singer>
{
	public bool Equals(Singer x, Singer y)
	{
		return x.Id == y.Id;
	}

	public int GetHashCode(Singer obj)
	{
		return obj.Id.GetHashCode();
	}
}

So we say that singerA == singerB if their IDs are equal. You can use this comparer as follows:

IEnumerable<Singer> singersIntersection = singersA.Intersect(singersB, new DefaultSingerComparer());
foreach (Singer s in singersIntersection)
{
	Console.WriteLine(s.Id);
}

singersIntersection will now include singers #1 and #2.

You can view all LINQ-related posts on this blog here.