Distinct() with lambda?

Question

Right, so I have an enumerable and wish to get distinct values from it.

Using System.Linq, there\'s of course an extension method called Distinct<

Answer 1

Shorthand solution

myCustomerList.GroupBy(c => c.CustomerId, (key, c) => c.FirstOrDefault());

Answer 2

This will do what you want but I don't know about performance:

var distinctValues =
    from cust in myCustomerList
    group cust by cust.CustomerId
    into gcust
    select gcust.First();

At least it's not verbose.

Answer 3

Here's a simple extension method that does what I need...

public static class EnumerableExtensions
{
    public static IEnumerable<TKey> Distinct<T, TKey>(this IEnumerable<T> source, Func<T, TKey> selector)
    {
        return source.GroupBy(selector).Select(x => x.Key);
    }
}

It's a shame they didn't bake a distinct method like this into the framework, but hey ho.

Answer 4

Something I have used which worked well for me.

/// <summary>
/// A class to wrap the IEqualityComparer interface into matching functions for simple implementation
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of object to be compared</typeparam>
public class MyIEqualityComparer<T> : IEqualityComparer<T>
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Create a new comparer based on the given Equals and GetHashCode methods
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="equals">The method to compute equals of two T instances</param>
    /// <param name="getHashCode">The method to compute a hashcode for a T instance</param>
    public MyIEqualityComparer(Func<T, T, bool> equals, Func<T, int> getHashCode)
    {
        if (equals == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException("equals", "Equals parameter is required for all MyIEqualityComparer instances");
        EqualsMethod = equals;
        GetHashCodeMethod = getHashCode;
    }
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the method used to compute equals
    /// </summary>
    public Func<T, T, bool> EqualsMethod { get; private set; }
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the method used to compute a hash code
    /// </summary>
    public Func<T, int> GetHashCodeMethod { get; private set; }

    bool IEqualityComparer<T>.Equals(T x, T y)
    {
        return EqualsMethod(x, y);
    }

    int IEqualityComparer<T>.GetHashCode(T obj)
    {
        if (GetHashCodeMethod == null)
            return obj.GetHashCode();
        return GetHashCodeMethod(obj);
    }
}

Answer 5

No there is no such extension method overload for this. I've found this frustrating myself in the past and as such I usually write a helper class to deal with this problem. The goal is to convert a Func<T,T,bool> to IEqualityComparer<T,T>.

Example

public class EqualityFactory {
  private sealed class Impl<T> : IEqualityComparer<T,T> {
    private Func<T,T,bool> m_del;
    private IEqualityComparer<T> m_comp;
    public Impl(Func<T,T,bool> del) { 
      m_del = del;
      m_comp = EqualityComparer<T>.Default;
    }
    public bool Equals(T left, T right) {
      return m_del(left, right);
    } 
    public int GetHashCode(T value) {
      return m_comp.GetHashCode(value);
    }
  }
  public static IEqualityComparer<T,T> Create<T>(Func<T,T,bool> del) {
    return new Impl<T>(del);
  }
}

This allows you to write the following

var distinctValues = myCustomerList
  .Distinct(EqualityFactory.Create((c1, c2) => c1.CustomerId == c2.CustomerId));

Answer 6

IEnumerable lambda extension:

public static class ListExtensions
{        
    public static IEnumerable<T> Distinct<T>(this IEnumerable<T> list, Func<T, int> hashCode)
    {
        Dictionary<int, T> hashCodeDic = new Dictionary<int, T>();

        list.ToList().ForEach(t => 
            {   
                var key = hashCode(t);
                if (!hashCodeDic.ContainsKey(key))
                    hashCodeDic.Add(key, t);
            });

        return hashCodeDic.Select(kvp => kvp.Value);
    }
}

Usage:

class Employee
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int EmployeeID { get; set; }
}

//Add 5 employees to List
List<Employee> lst = new List<Employee>();

Employee e = new Employee { Name = "Shantanu", EmployeeID = 123456 };
lst.Add(e);
lst.Add(e);

Employee e1 = new Employee { Name = "Adam Warren", EmployeeID = 823456 };
lst.Add(e1);
//Add a space in the Name
Employee e2 = new Employee { Name = "Adam  Warren", EmployeeID = 823456 };
lst.Add(e2);
//Name is different case
Employee e3 = new Employee { Name = "adam warren", EmployeeID = 823456 };
lst.Add(e3);            

//Distinct (without IEqalityComparer<T>) - Returns 4 employees
var lstDistinct1 = lst.Distinct();

//Lambda Extension - Return 2 employees
var lstDistinct = lst.Distinct(employee => employee.EmployeeID.GetHashCode() ^ employee.Name.ToUpper().Replace(" ", "").GetHashCode());