How to compare Lists in Unit Testing

Question

To make assertions about collections, you should use CollectionAssert:

CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual);

List<T> doesn't override Equals, so if Assert.AreEqual just calls Equals, it will end up using reference equality.

I guess this will help

Assert.IsTrue(expected.SequenceEqual(actual));

If you want to check that each contains the same collection of values then you should use:

CollectionAssert.AreEquivalent(expected, actual);

Edit:

"Two collections are equivalent if they have the same elements in the same quantity, but in any order. Elements are equal if their values are equal, not if they refer to the same object." - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms243779.aspx

I tried the other answers in this thread, and they didn't work for me and I was comparing collections of objects that had the same values stored in their properties, but the objects were different.

Method Call :

CompareIEnumerable(to, emailDeserialized.ToIndividual,
            (x, y) => x.ToName == y.ToName && x.ToEmailAddress == y.ToEmailAddress);

Method for comparisons:

private static void CompareIEnumerable<T>(IEnumerable<T> one, IEnumerable<T> two, Func<T, T, bool> comparisonFunction)
    {
        var oneArray = one as T[] ?? one.ToArray();
        var twoArray = two as T[] ?? two.ToArray();

        if (oneArray.Length != twoArray.Length)
        {
            Assert.Fail("Collections are not same length");
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < oneArray.Length; i++)
        {
            var isEqual = comparisonFunction(oneArray[i], twoArray[i]);
            Assert.IsTrue(isEqual);
        }
    }