LINQ: Select where object does not contain items from list

Question

I'm struggling with LINQ syntax here...thought I'd toss it out here. I cant find exactly what I'm looking for anywhere else.

OK, say I've got this:

public class Bar
{
   public int BarId { get; set; }
}

public class Foo
{
   public List<Bar> BarList { get; set; }
}

List<Foo> fooBunch = GetABunchOfFoos(); //let's just assume I'm getting more than one
List<Foo> fooSelect = new List<Foo>;
List<Bar> filterBars = GetAFewBars(); //assume I'm getting like 2 or 3

fooSelect = (from f in fooBunch
             where !(from b in f.BarList select b.BarId).Contains(ITEM FROM filterBars.BarId)
             select f).ToList();

So, long story short I want to use LINQ to filter out my list of objects based on objects from another list. I hope this makes sense. I think I'm just lost on the Contains portion...I don't know how to write that.

Answer 1

In general, you're looking for the "Except" extension.

var rejectStatus = GenerateRejectStatuses();
var fullList = GenerateFullList();
var rejectList = fullList.Where(i => rejectStatus.Contains(i.Status));
var filteredList = fullList.Except(rejectList);

In this example, GenerateRegectStatuses() should be the list of statuses you wish to reject (or in more concrete terms based on your example, a List<int> of IDs)

Answer 2

dump this into a more specific collection of just the ids you don't want

var notTheseBarIds = filterBars.Select(fb => fb.BarId);

then try this:

fooSelect = (from f in fooBunch
             where !notTheseBarIds.Contains(f.BarId)
             select f).ToList();

or this:

fooSelect = fooBunch.Where(f => !notTheseBarIds.Contains(f.BarId)).ToList();

Answer 3

I have not tried this, so I am not guarantueeing anything, however

foreach Bar f in filterBars
{
     search(f)
}
Foo search(Bar b)
{
    fooSelect = (from f in fooBunch
                 where !(from b in f.BarList select b.BarId).Contains(b.ID)
                 select f).ToList();

    return fooSelect;
}

Answer 4

Try this simple LINQ:

//For a file list/array
var files = Directory.GetFiles(folderPath, "*.*", SearchOption.AllDirectories);

//simply use Where ! x.Contains
var notContain = files.Where(x => ! x.Contains(@"\$RECYCLE.BIN\")).ToList();

//Or use Except()
var containing = files.Where(x => x.Contains(@"\$RECYCLE.BIN\")).ToList();
    notContain = files.Except(containing).ToList();