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Comparisons and sorts within collections

The System.Collections classes perform comparisons in almost all the processes involved in managing collections, whether searching for the element to remove or returning the value of a key-and-value pair.

Collections typically utilize an equality comparer and/or an ordering comparer. Two constructs are used for comparisons.

Check for equality

Methods such as Contains, IndexOf, LastIndexOf, and Remove use an equality comparer for the collection elements. If the collection is generic, then items are compared for equality according to the following guidelines:

In addition, some constructor overloads for dictionary collections accept an IEqualityComparer<T> implementation, which is used to compare keys for equality. For an example, see the Dictionary<TKey,TValue> constructor.

Determine sort order

Methods such as BinarySearch and Sort use an ordering comparer for the collection elements. The comparisons can be between elements of the collection, or between an element and a specified value. For comparing objects, there is the concept of a default comparer and an explicit comparer.

The default comparer relies on at least one of the objects being compared to implement the IComparable interface. It is a good practice to implement IComparable on all classes which are used as values in a list collection or as keys in a dictionary collection. For a generic collection, equality comparison is determined according to the following:

To provide explicit comparisons, some methods accept an IComparer implementation as a parameter. For example, the List<T>.Sort method accepts an System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<T> implementation.

The current culture setting of the system can affect the comparisons and sorts within a collection. By default, the comparisons and sorts in the Collections classes are culture-sensitive. To ignore the culture setting and therefore obtain consistent comparison and sorting results, use the InvariantCulture with member overloads that accept a CultureInfo. For more information, see Perform culture-insensitive string operations in collections and Perform culture-insensitive string operations in arrays.

Equality and sort example

The following code demonstrates an implementation of IEquatable<T> and IComparable<T> on a simple business object. In addition, when the object is stored in a list and sorted, you will see that calling the Sort() method results in the use of the default comparer for the Part type, and the Sort(Comparison<T>) method implemented by using an anonymous method.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

// Simple business object. A PartId is used to identify the
// type of part but the part name can change.
public class Part : IEquatable<Part>, IComparable<Part>
{
    public string PartName { get; set; }

    public int PartId { get; set; }

    public override string ToString() => 
        $"ID: {PartId}   Name: {PartName}";

    public override bool Equals(object obj) => 
        (obj is Part part)
                ? Equals(part)
                : false;

    public int SortByNameAscending(string name1, string name2) => 
        name1?.CompareTo(name2) ?? 1;

    // Default comparer for Part type.
    // A null value means that this object is greater.
    public int CompareTo(Part comparePart) =>
        comparePart == null ? 1 : PartId.CompareTo(comparePart.PartId);

    public override int GetHashCode() => PartId;

    public bool Equals(Part other) =>
        other is null ? false : PartId.Equals(other.PartId);

    // Should also override == and != operators.
}

public class Example
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Create a list of parts.
        var parts = new List<Part>
        {
            // Add parts to the list.
            new Part { PartName = "regular seat", PartId = 1434 },
            new Part { PartName = "crank arm", PartId = 1234 },
            new Part { PartName = "shift lever", PartId = 1634 },
            // Name intentionally left null.
            new Part { PartId = 1334 },
            new Part { PartName = "banana seat", PartId = 1444 },
            new Part { PartName = "cassette", PartId = 1534 }
        };
        
        // Write out the parts in the list. This will call the overridden
        // ToString method in the Part class.
        Console.WriteLine("\nBefore sort:");
        parts.ForEach(Console.WriteLine);

        // Call Sort on the list. This will use the
        // default comparer, which is the Compare method
        // implemented on Part.
        parts.Sort();

        Console.WriteLine("\nAfter sort by part number:");
        parts.ForEach(Console.WriteLine);

        // This shows calling the Sort(Comparison<T> comparison) overload using
        // a lambda expression as the Comparison<T> delegate.
        // This method treats null as the lesser of two values.
        parts.Sort((Part x, Part y) => 
            x.PartName == null && y.PartName == null
                ? 0
                : x.PartName == null
                    ? -1
                    : y.PartName == null
                        ? 1
                        : x.PartName.CompareTo(y.PartName));

        Console.WriteLine("\nAfter sort by name:");
        parts.ForEach(Console.WriteLine);

        /*

            Before sort:
        ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        ID: 1634   Name: shift lever
        ID: 1334   Name:
        ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        ID: 1534   Name: cassette

        After sort by part number:
        ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        ID: 1334   Name:
        ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        ID: 1534   Name: cassette
        ID: 1634   Name: shift lever

        After sort by name:
        ID: 1334   Name:
        ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        ID: 1534   Name: cassette
        ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        ID: 1634   Name: shift lever

         */
    }
}
Imports System.Collections.Generic

' Simple business object. A PartId is used to identify the type of part 
' but the part name can change. 
Public Class Part
    Implements IEquatable(Of Part)
    Implements IComparable(Of Part)
    Public Property PartName() As String
        Get
            Return m_PartName
        End Get
        Set(value As String)
            m_PartName = Value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_PartName As String

    Public Property PartId() As Integer
        Get
            Return m_PartId
        End Get
        Set(value As Integer)
            m_PartId = Value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_PartId As Integer

    Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
        Return "ID: " & PartId & "   Name: " & PartName
    End Function

    Public Overrides Function Equals(obj As Object) As Boolean
        If obj Is Nothing Then
            Return False
        End If
        Dim objAsPart As Part = TryCast(obj, Part)
        If objAsPart Is Nothing Then
            Return False
        Else
            Return Equals(objAsPart)
        End If
    End Function

    Public Function SortByNameAscending(name1 As String, name2 As String) As Integer

        Return name1.CompareTo(name2)
    End Function

    ' Default comparer for Part.
    Public Function CompareTo(comparePart As Part) As Integer _
            Implements IComparable(Of ListSortVB.Part).CompareTo
        ' A null value means that this object is greater.
        If comparePart Is Nothing Then
            Return 1
        Else

            Return Me.PartId.CompareTo(comparePart.PartId)
        End If
    End Function
    Public Overrides Function GetHashCode() As Integer
        Return PartId
    End Function
    Public Overloads Function Equals(other As Part) As Boolean Implements IEquatable(Of ListSortVB.Part).Equals
        If other Is Nothing Then
            Return False
        End If
        Return (Me.PartId.Equals(other.PartId))
    End Function
    ' Should also override == and != operators.

End Class
Public Class Example
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        ' Create a list of parts.
        Dim parts As New List(Of Part)()

        ' Add parts to the list.
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartName = "regular seat", _
             .PartId = 1434 _
        })
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartName = "crank arm", _
             .PartId = 1234 _
        })
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartName = "shift lever", _
             .PartId = 1634 _
        })


        ' Name intentionally left null.
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartId = 1334 _
        })
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartName = "banana seat", _
             .PartId = 1444 _
        })
        parts.Add(New Part() With { _
             .PartName = "cassette", _
             .PartId = 1534 _
        })


        ' Write out the parts in the list. This will call the overridden 
        ' ToString method in the Part class.
        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Before sort:")
        For Each aPart As Part In parts
            Console.WriteLine(aPart)
        Next


        ' Call Sort on the list. This will use the 
        ' default comparer, which is the Compare method 
        ' implemented on Part.
        parts.Sort()


        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "After sort by part number:")
        For Each aPart As Part In parts
            Console.WriteLine(aPart)
        Next

        ' This shows calling the Sort(Comparison(T) overload using 
        ' an anonymous delegate method. 
        ' This method treats null as the lesser of two values.
        parts.Sort(Function(x As Part, y As Part)
                       If x.PartName Is Nothing AndAlso y.PartName Is Nothing Then
                           Return 0
                       ElseIf x.PartName Is Nothing Then
                           Return -1
                       ElseIf y.PartName Is Nothing Then
                           Return 1
                       Else
                           Return x.PartName.CompareTo(y.PartName)
                       End If
                   End Function)


        Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "After sort by name:")
        For Each aPart As Part In parts
            Console.WriteLine(aPart)
        Next

        '
        '        
        '            Before sort:
        '            ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        '            ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        '            ID: 1634   Name: shift lever
        '            ID: 1334   Name:
        '            ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        '            ID: 1534   Name: cassette
        '
        '            After sort by part number:
        '            ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        '            ID: 1334   Name:
        '            ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        '            ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        '            ID: 1534   Name: cassette
        '            ID: 1634   Name: shift lever
        '
        '            After sort by name:
        '            ID: 1334   Name:
        '            ID: 1444   Name: banana seat
        '            ID: 1534   Name: cassette
        '            ID: 1234   Name: crank arm
        '            ID: 1434   Name: regular seat
        '            ID: 1634   Name: shift lever

    End Sub
End Class

See also