Set Operator: Intersect

The Intersect extension method requires two collections. It returns a new collection that includes common elements that exists in both the collection. Consider the following example.

Example: Intersect in method syntax C#

IList<string> strList1 = new List<string>() { "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five" };
IList<string> strList2 = new List<string>() { "Four", "Five", "Six", "Seven", "Eight"};

var result = strList1.Intersect(strList2);

foreach(string str in result)
        Console.WriteLine(str);

Try it

Output:

Four Five

The Intersect extension method doesn't return the correct result for the collection of complex types. You need to implement IEqualityComparer interface in order to get the correct result from Intersect method.

Implement IEqualityComparer interface for Student class as shown below:

Example: Use IEqualityComparer with Intersect in C#

public class Student 
{
    public int StudentID { get; set; }
    public string StudentName { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
}

class StudentComparer : IEqualityComparer<Student>
{
    public bool Equals(Student x, Student y)
    {
        if (x.StudentID == y.StudentID && 
                        x.StudentName.ToLower() == y.StudentName.ToLower())
            return true;

        return false;
    }

    public int GetHashCode(Student obj)
    {
        return obj.StudentID.GetHashCode();
    }
}

Try it

Now, you can pass above StudentComparer class in the Intersect extension method in order to get the correct result:

Example: Intersect operator C#

IList<Student> studentList1 = new List<Student>() { 
        new Student() { StudentID = 1, StudentName = "John", Age = 18 } ,
        new Student() { StudentID = 2, StudentName = "Steve",  Age = 15 } ,
        new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill",  Age = 25 } ,
        new Student() { StudentID = 5, StudentName = "Ron" , Age = 19 } 
    };

IList<Student> studentList2 = new List<Student>() { 
        new Student() { StudentID = 3, StudentName = "Bill",  Age = 25 } ,
        new Student() { StudentID = 5, StudentName = "Ron" , Age = 19 } 
    };

var resultedCol = studentList1.Intersect(studentList2, new StudentComparer()); 

foreach(Student std in resultedCol)
    Console.WriteLine(std.StudentName);

Try it

Output:

Bill Ron

The Intersect operator is Not Supported in C# & VB.Net Query syntax. However, you can use the Intersect method on a query variable or wrap whole query into brackets and then call Intersect().

The following figure shows how each set operators works on the collections: