CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#c#-4.0
NoviceMe
NoviceMe

Reputation: 3256

Find uncommon characters between two strings

I have following code: 

public static void Main (string[] args) {
    string word1 = "AN";
    string word2 = "ANN";

    //First try:
    var intersect = word1.Intersect(word2); 
    var unCommon1 = word1.Except(intersect).Union(word2.Except(intersect));

    //Second try:
    var unCommon = word1.Except(word2).Union(word2.Except(word1));              
  }

Result I am trying to get is N. I tried few ways to get it by reading online posts, I am unable to figure it out. Is there a way to get uncommon character between two strings using linq.

Order of characters in string does not matter. Here are few more scenarios: FOO & BAR will result in F,O,O,B,A,R. ANN & NAN will result in empty string.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 2220

Answers (1)

Tobbs
Tobbs

Reputation: 1150

Here's a straight forward LINQ function.

string word1 = "AN";
string word2 = "ANN";

//get all the characters in both strings
var group = string.Concat(word1, word2)

    //remove duplicates
    .Distinct()

    //count the times each character appears in word1 and word2, find the
    //difference, and repeat the character difference times
    .SelectMany(i => Enumerable.Repeat(i, Math.Abs(
        word1.Count(j => j == i) - 
        word2.Count(j => j == i))));

Upvotes: 2

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