Combine and Compare String Collections (LINQ)
Combine and Compare String Collections (LINQ).doc (40,5 kB)
How to: Combine and Compare String Collections (LINQ)
This example shows how to merge files that contain lines of text and then sort the results. Specifically, it shows how to perform a simple concatenation, a union, and an intersection on the two sets of text lines.
To set up the project and the text files
- Copy these names into a text file that is named names1.txt and save it in your solution folder:
Bankov, Peter
Holm, Michael
Garcia, Hugo
Potra, Cristina
Noriega, Fabricio
Aw, Kam Foo
Beebe, Ann
Toyoshima, Tim
Guy, Wey Yuan
Garcia, Debra
- Copy these names into a text file that is named names2.txt and save it in your solution folder. Note that the two files have some names in common.
Liu, Jinghao
Bankov, Peter
Holm, Michael
Garcia, Hugo
Beebe, Ann
Gilchrist, Beth
Myrcha, Jacek
Giakoumakis, Leo
McLin, Nkenge
El Yassir, Mehdi
Example
Class ConcatenateStrings
Shared Sub Main()
' Create the IEnumerable data sources.
Dim fileA As String() = System.IO.File.ReadAllLines("../../../names1.txt")
Dim fileB As String() = System.IO.File.ReadAllLines("../../../names2.txt")
' Simple concatenation and sort.
Dim concatQuery = fileA.Concat(fileB).OrderBy(Function(name) name)
' Pass the query variable to another function for execution
OutputQueryResults(concatQuery, "Simple concatenation and sort. Duplicates are preserved:")
' New query. Concatenate files and remove duplicates
Dim uniqueNamesQuery = fileA.Union(fileB).OrderBy(Function(name) name)
OutputQueryResults(uniqueNamesQuery, "Union removes duplicate names:")
' New query. Find the names that occur in both files.
Dim commonNamesQuery = fileA.Intersect(fileB)
OutputQueryResults(commonNamesQuery, "Merge based on intersect: ")
' New query in three steps for better readability
' First filter each list separately
Dim nameToSearch As String = "Garcia"
Dim mergeQueryA As IEnumerable(Of String) = From name In fileA
Let n = name.Split(New Char() {","})
Where n(0) = nameToSearch
Select name
Dim mergeQueryB = From name In fileB
Let n = name.Split(New Char() {","})
Where n(0) = nameToSearch
Select name
' Create a new query to concatenate and sort results. Duplicates are removed in Union.
' Note that none of the queries actually executed until the call to OutputQueryResults.
Dim mergeSortQuery = mergeQueryA.Union(mergeQueryB).OrderBy(Function(str) str)
' Now execute mergeSortQuery
OutputQueryResults(mergeSortQuery, "Concat based on partial name match """ & nameToSearch & """ from each list:")
' Keep console window open in debug mode.
Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit.")
Console.ReadKey()
End Sub
Shared Sub OutputQueryResults(ByVal query As IEnumerable(Of String), ByVal message As String)
Console.WriteLine(System.Environment.NewLine & message)
For Each item As String In query
Console.WriteLine(item)
Next
Console.WriteLine(query.Count & " total names in list")
End Sub
End Class
' Output:
' Simple concatenation and sort. Duplicates are preserved:
' Aw, Kam Foo
' Bankov, Peter
' Bankov, Peter
' Beebe, Ann
' Beebe, Ann
' El Yassir, Mehdi
' Garcia, Debra
' Garcia, Hugo
' Garcia, Hugo
' Giakoumakis, Leo
' Gilchrist, Beth
' Guy, Wey Yuan
' Holm, Michael
' Holm, Michael
' Liu, Jinghao
' McLin, Nkenge
' Myrcha, Jacek
' Noriega, Fabricio
' Potra, Cristina
' Toyoshima, Tim
' 20 total names in list
' Union removes duplicate names:
' Aw, Kam Foo
' Bankov, Peter
' Beebe, Ann
' El Yassir, Mehdi
' Garcia, Debra
' Garcia, Hugo
' Giakoumakis, Leo
' Gilchrist, Beth
' Guy, Wey Yuan
' Holm, Michael
' Liu, Jinghao
' McLin, Nkenge
' Myrcha, Jacek
' Noriega, Fabricio
' Potra, Cristina
' Toyoshima, Tim
' 16 total names in list
' Merge based on intersect:
' Bankov, Peter
' Holm, Michael
' Garcia, Hugo
' Beebe, Ann
' 4 total names in list
' Concat based on partial name match "Garcia" from each list:
' Garcia, Debra