Using LINQ to remove elements from a List

Question

Say that I have LINQ query such as:

var authors = from x in authorsList
              where x.firstname == "Bob"
              select x;

Given that authorsList is of type List<Author>, how can I delete the Author elements from authorsList that are returned by the query into authors?

Or, put another way, how can I delete all of the firstname's equalling Bob from authorsList?

Note: This is a simplified example for the purposes of the question.

Answer 1

Well, it would be easier to exclude them in the first place:

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => x.FirstName != "Bob").ToList();

However, that would just change the value of authorsList instead of removing the authors from the previous collection. Alternatively, you can use RemoveAll:

authorsList.RemoveAll(x => x.FirstName == "Bob");

If you really need to do it based on another collection, I'd use a HashSet, RemoveAll and Contains:

var setToRemove = new HashSet<Author>(authors);
authorsList.RemoveAll(x => setToRemove.Contains(x));

Answer 2

It'd be better to use List<T>.RemoveAll to accomplish this.

authorsList.RemoveAll((x) => x.firstname == "Bob");

Answer 3

If you really need to remove items then what about Except()?
You can remove based on a new list, or remove on-the-fly by nesting the Linq.

var authorsList = new List<Author>()
{
    new Author{ Firstname = "Bob", Lastname = "Smith" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Fred", Lastname = "Jones" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Brian", Lastname = "Brains" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Billy", Lastname = "TheKid" }
};

var authors = authorsList.Where(a => a.Firstname == "Bob");
authorsList = authorsList.Except(authors).ToList();
authorsList = authorsList.Except(authorsList.Where(a=>a.Firstname=="Billy")).ToList();

Answer 4

You cannot do this with standard LINQ operators because LINQ provides query, not update support.

But you can generate a new list and replace the old one.

var authorsList = GetAuthorList();

authorsList = authorsList.Where(a => a.FirstName != "Bob").ToList();

Or you could remove all items in authors in a second pass.

var authorsList = GetAuthorList();

var authors = authorsList.Where(a => a.FirstName == "Bob").ToList();

foreach (var author in authors)
{
    authorList.Remove(author);
}

Answer 5

Simple solution:

static void Main()
{
    List<string> myList = new List<string> { "Jason", "Bob", "Frank", "Bob" };
    myList.RemoveAll(x => x == "Bob");

    foreach (string s in myList)
    {
        //
    }
}

Answer 6

I was wondering, if there is any difference between RemoveAll and Except and the pros of using HashSet, so I have done quick performance check :)

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ListRemoveTest
{
    class Program
    {
        private static Random random = new Random( (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks );

        static void Main( string[] args )
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, generating data..." );

            List<string> list = new List<string>();
            List<string> toRemove = new List<string>();
            for( int x=0; x < 1000000; x++ )
            {
                string randString = RandomString( random.Next( 100 ) );
                list.Add( randString );
                if( random.Next( 1000 ) == 0 )
                    toRemove.Insert( 0, randString );
            }

            List<string> l1 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l2 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l3 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l4 = new List<string>( list );

            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, testing..." );

            Stopwatch sw1 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l1.RemoveAll( toRemove.Contains );
            sw1.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw2 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l2.RemoveAll( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ).Contains );
            sw2.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw3 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l3 = l3.Except( toRemove ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw4 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l4 = l4.Except( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ) ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();


            Console.WriteLine( "L1.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw1.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L2.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw2.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L3.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L4.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );

            Console.ReadKey();
        }


        private static string RandomString( int size )
        {
            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            char ch;
            for( int i = 0; i < size; i++ )
            {
                ch = Convert.ToChar( Convert.ToInt32( Math.Floor( 26 * random.NextDouble() + 65 ) ) );
                builder.Append( ch );
            }

            return builder.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Results below:

Be patient, generating data...
Be patient, testing...
L1.Len = 985263, Time taken: 13411.8648ms
L2.Len = 985263, Time taken: 76.4042ms
L3.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms
L4.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms

As we can see, best option in that case is to use RemoveAll(HashSet)

Answer 7

This is a very old question, but I found a really simple way to do this:

authorsList = authorsList.Except(authors).ToList();

Note that since the return variable authorsList is a List<T>, the IEnumerable<T> returned by Except() must be converted to a List<T>.

Answer 8

You can remove in two ways

var output = from x in authorsList
             where x.firstname != "Bob"
             select x;

or

var authors = from x in authorsList
              where x.firstname == "Bob"
              select x;

var output = from x in authorsList
             where !authors.Contains(x) 
             select x;

I had same issue, if you want simple output based on your where condition , then first solution is better.

Answer 9

Say that authorsToRemove is an IEnumerable<T> that contains the elements you want to remove from authorsList.

Then here is another very simple way to accomplish the removal task asked by the OP:

authorsList.RemoveAll(authorsToRemove.Contains);

Answer 10

LINQ has its origins in functional programming, which emphasises immutability of objects, so it doesn't provide a built-in way to update the original list in-place.

Note on immutability (taken from another SO answer):

Here is the definition of immutability from Wikipedia.

In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created.

Answer 11

Below is the example to remove the element from the list.

 List<int> items = new List<int>() { 2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 7, 3,3,3};

 var result = items.Remove(2);//Remove the first ocurence of matched elements and returns boolean value
 var result1 = items.RemoveAll(lst => lst == 3);// Remove all the matched elements and returns count of removed element
 items.RemoveAt(3);//Removes the elements at the specified index

Answer 12

I think you could do something like this

    authorsList = (from a in authorsList
                  where !authors.Contains(a)
                  select a).ToList();

Although I think the solutions already given solve the problem in a more readable way.

Answer 13

i think you just have to assign the items from Author list to a new list to take that effect.

//assume oldAuthor is the old list
Author newAuthorList = (select x from oldAuthor where x.firstname!="Bob" select x).ToList();
oldAuthor = newAuthorList;
newAuthorList = null;

Answer 14

To keep the code fluent (if code optimisation is not crucial) and you would need to do some further operations on the list:

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => x.FirstName != "Bob").<do_some_further_Linq>;

or

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => !setToRemove.Contains(x)).<do_some_further_Linq>;