Getting the "diff" between two arrays in C#?

Question

Let's say I have these two arrays:

var array1 = new[] {"A", "B", "C"}; var array2 = new[] {"A", "C", "D"}; 

I would like to get the differences between the two. I know I could write this in just a few lines of code, but I want to make sure I'm not missing a built in language feature or a LINQ extension method.

Ideally, I would end up with the following three results:

• Items not in array1, but are in array2 ("D")
• Items not in array2, but are in array1 ("B")
• Items that are in both

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

If you've got LINQ available to you, you can use Except and Distinct. The sets you asked for in the question are respectively:

- array2.Except(array1) - array1.Except(array2) - array1.Intersect(array2)