How can I return the difference between two lists?

Question

I have two array lists e.g.

List a;
contains : 10/10/2014, 10/11/2016

List b;
contains : 10/10/2016

How can i do

Answer 1

If you only want find missing values in b, you can do:

List toReturn = new ArrayList(a);
toReturn.removeAll(b);

return toReturn;

If you want to find out values which are present in either list you can execute upper code twice. With changed lists.

Answer 2

You can use filter in the Java 8 Stream library

List<String> aList = List.of("l","e","t","'","s");
List<String> bList = List.of("g","o","e","s","t");

List<String> difference = aList.stream()
    .filter(aObject -> {
        return ! bList.contains(aObject);
      })
    .collect(Collectors.toList());

//more reduced: no curly braces, no return
List<String> difference2 = aList.stream()
    .filter(aObject -> ! bList.contains(aObject))
    .collect(Collectors.toList());

Result of System.out.println(difference);:

[e, t, s]

Answer 3

You may call U.difference(lists) method in underscore-java library. I am the maintainer of the project. Live example

import com.github.underscore.U;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> list1 = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3);
        List<Integer> list2 = Arrays.asList(1, 2);
        List<Integer> list3 = U.difference(list1, list2);
        System.out.println(list3);
        // [3]
    }
}

Answer 4

List<String> l1 = new ArrayList<String>();
l1.add("apple");
l1.add("orange");
l1.add("banana");
l1.add("strawberry");

List<String> l2 = new ArrayList<String>();
l2.add("apple");
l2.add("orange");

System.out.println(l1);
System.out.println(l2);

for (String A: l2) {
  if (l1.contains(A))
    l1.remove(A);
}

System.out.println("output");
System.out.println(l1);

Output:

[apple, orange, banana, strawberry]
[apple, orange]
output
[banana, strawberry]

Answer 5

First convert list to sets.

// create an empty set 
Set<T> set = new HashSet<>(); 

// Add each element of list into the set 
for (T t : list) 
    set.add(t); 

You can use Sets.difference(Set1, Set2), which returns extra items present in Set1.
You can use Sets.difference(Set2, Set1), which returns extra items present in Set2.

Answer 6

Here is a generic solution for this problem.

public <T> List<T> difference(List<T> first, List<T> second) {
    List<T> toReturn = new ArrayList<>(first);
    toReturn.removeAll(second);
    return toReturn;
}