What is the difference between Contains and Any in LINQ?

Question

What is the difference between Contains and Any in LINQ?

Answer 1

Contains takes an object, Any takes a predicate.

You use Contains like this:

listOFInts.Contains(1); 

and Any like this:

listOfInts.Any(i => i == 1); listOfInts.Any(i => i % 2 == 0); // Check if any element is an Even Number 

So if you want to check for a specific condition, use Any. If you want to check for the existence of an element, use Contains.

MSDN for Contains, Any

Answer 2

Contains checks if the sequence contains a specified element.

Enumerable.Any checks if element of a sequence satisfies a condition.

Consider the following example:

List<int> list = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }; bool contains = list.Contains(1); //true  bool condition = list.Any(r => r > 2 && r < 5);