Question

I understand how to do a Distinct() on a IEnumerable and that I have to create an IEqualityComparer for more advanced stuff however is there a way in which you can tell which duplicated item to return?

For example say you have a List<T>

List<MyClass> test = new List<MyClass>();
test.Add(new MyClass {ID = 1, InnerID = 4});
test.Add(new MyClass {ID = 2, InnerID = 4});
test.Add(new MyClass {ID = 3, InnerID = 14});
test.Add(new MyClass {ID = 4, InnerID = 14});

You then do:

var distinctItems = test.Distinct(new DistinctItemComparer());

class DistinctItemComparer : IEqualityComparer<MyClass> {

    public bool Equals(MyClass x, MyClass y) {
        return x.InnerID  == y.InnerID;;
    }

    public int GetHashCode(MyClassobj) {
        return obj.InnerID.GetHasCode();
    }
}

This code will return the classes with ID 1 and 3. Is there a way to return the ID matches 2 & 4.

Answer 1

You don’t want distinct then – you want to group your items and select the “maximum” element for them, based on ID:

    var distinctItems = test.Distinct(new DistinctItemComparer());

    var otherItems = test.GroupBy(a => a.InnerID, (innerID, values) => values.OrderBy(b => b.ID).Last());

    var l1 = distinctItems.ToList();
    var l2 = otherItems.ToList();

l1 = your current list
l2 = your desired list