Using LINQ to remove elements from a List

Question

Say that I have LINQ query such as:

var authors = from x in authorsList
              where x.firstname == \"Bob\"
              select x;

Answer 1

I was wondering, if there is any difference between RemoveAll and Except and the pros of using HashSet, so I have done quick performance check :)

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ListRemoveTest
{
    class Program
    {
        private static Random random = new Random( (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks );

        static void Main( string[] args )
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, generating data..." );

            List<string> list = new List<string>();
            List<string> toRemove = new List<string>();
            for( int x=0; x < 1000000; x++ )
            {
                string randString = RandomString( random.Next( 100 ) );
                list.Add( randString );
                if( random.Next( 1000 ) == 0 )
                    toRemove.Insert( 0, randString );
            }

            List<string> l1 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l2 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l3 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l4 = new List<string>( list );

            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, testing..." );

            Stopwatch sw1 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l1.RemoveAll( toRemove.Contains );
            sw1.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw2 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l2.RemoveAll( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ).Contains );
            sw2.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw3 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l3 = l3.Except( toRemove ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw4 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l4 = l4.Except( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ) ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();


            Console.WriteLine( "L1.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw1.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L2.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw2.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L3.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L4.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );

            Console.ReadKey();
        }


        private static string RandomString( int size )
        {
            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            char ch;
            for( int i = 0; i < size; i++ )
            {
                ch = Convert.ToChar( Convert.ToInt32( Math.Floor( 26 * random.NextDouble() + 65 ) ) );
                builder.Append( ch );
            }

            return builder.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Results below:

Be patient, generating data...
Be patient, testing...
L1.Len = 985263, Time taken: 13411.8648ms
L2.Len = 985263, Time taken: 76.4042ms
L3.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms
L4.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms

As we can see, best option in that case is to use RemoveAll(HashSet)

Answer 2

I think you could do something like this

    authorsList = (from a in authorsList
                  where !authors.Contains(a)
                  select a).ToList();

Although I think the solutions already given solve the problem in a more readable way.

Answer 3

It'd be better to use List<T>.RemoveAll to accomplish this.

authorsList.RemoveAll((x) => x.firstname == "Bob");

Answer 4

Say that authorsToRemove is an IEnumerable<T> that contains the elements you want to remove from authorsList.

Then here is another very simple way to accomplish the removal task asked by the OP:

authorsList.RemoveAll(authorsToRemove.Contains);

Answer 5

Simple solution:

static void Main()
{
    List<string> myList = new List<string> { "Jason", "Bob", "Frank", "Bob" };
    myList.RemoveAll(x => x == "Bob");

    foreach (string s in myList)
    {
        //
    }
}

Answer 6

LINQ has its origins in functional programming, which emphasises immutability of objects, so it doesn't provide a built-in way to update the original list in-place.

Note on immutability (taken from another SO answer):

Here is the definition of immutability from Wikipedia.

In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created.