Remove from String Array what is in List

Question

I have a String Array x and a List y and I want to remove all data from Y from the List X, how to do that in the fastest way?

e.g.: X: 1) "aaa.bbb.ccc" 2) "ddd.eee.fff" 3) "ggg.hhh.jjj"

Y: 1) "bbb" 2) "fff"

Result should be a new List in Which only 3) exist because X.1 gets deleted by Y.1 and X.2 gets deleted by Y.2

How to do that?

I know I could do a foreach on the List X and check with everything in List Y, bit is that the fastest way?

Answer 1

The most convenient would be

var Z = X.Where(x => !x.Split('.').Intersect(Y).Any()).ToList();

That is not the same as "fastest". Probably the fastest (runtime) way to do that is to use a token search, like:

public static bool ContainsToken(string value, string token, char delimiter = '.')
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(token)) return false;
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) return false;

    int lastIndex = -1, idx, endIndex = value.Length - token.Length, tokenLength = token.Length;
    while ((idx = value.IndexOf(token, lastIndex + 1)) > lastIndex)
    {
        lastIndex = idx;
        if ((idx == 0 || (value[idx - 1] == delimiter))
            && (idx == endIndex || (value[idx + tokenLength] == delimiter)))
        {
            return true;
        }
    }
    return false;
}

then something like:

var list = new List<string>(X.Length);
foreach(var x in X)
{
    bool found = false;
    foreach(var y in Y)
    {
        if(ContainsToken(x, y, '.'))
        {
            found = true;
            break;
        }
    }
    if (!found) list.Add(x);
}

This:

• doesn't allocate arrays (for the output of Split, of for the params char[] of Split)
• doesn't create any new string instances (for the output of Split)
• doesn't use delegate abstraction
• doesn't have captured scopes
• uses the struct custom iterator of List<T> rather than the class iterator of IEnumerable<T>
• starts the new List<T> with the appropriate worst-case size to avoid reallocations

Answer 2

Iterating over X and Y would indeed be the fastest option because you have this Contains constraint. I really don't see any other way.

It should not be a foreach over X though, because you cannot modify the collection you iterate over with foreach.

So an option would be:

for (int counterX = 0; counterX < X.Length; counterX++)
{
    for(int counterY = 0; counterY < Y.Length; counterY++)
    {
        if (X[counterX].Contains(Y[counterY]))
        {
            X.RemoveAt(counterX--);
            counterY = Y.Length;
        }
    }
}

This should do it (mind you, this code is not tested).