Compare Data Tables Using LINQ Union, Except and Intersect

In this post i am going to explain about how to compare two datatables using  Union, Except and Intersect LinQ operators.

Process:
1. Create two datatable for holding the student records. One for holding students who enrolled for yoga class and another one is  students who enrolled for karate class. Below is the code.

//Table contains students data who enrolled

//to yoga class

DataTable dtYoga = new DataTable("YogaClass");

dtYoga.Columns.Add("StudentId", typeof(int));

dtYoga.Columns.Add("StudentName", typeof(string));

dtYoga.Columns.Add("Age", typeof(int));

dtYoga.Columns.Add("Place", typeof(string));

//Adding sample records

dtYoga.Rows.Add(1, "Kanna", 28, "Chennai");

dtYoga.Rows.Add(2, "Dasan", 29, "Avadi");

dtYoga.Rows.Add(3, "Kavi", 27, "Ambur");

dtYoga.Rows.Add(4, "Arasan", 30, "Delhi");

dtYoga.Rows.Add(5, "Xavier", 25, "Bangalore");

//Table contains students data who enrolled

//to karate class

DataTable dtKarate = new DataTable("KarateClass");

dtKarate.Columns.Add("StudentId", typeof(int));

dtKarate.Columns.Add("StudentName", typeof(string));

dtKarate.Columns.Add("Age", typeof(int));

dtKarate.Columns.Add("Place", typeof(string));

//Adding sample records

dtKarate.Rows.Add(6, "Arvind", 24, "Ambattur");

dtKarate.Rows.Add(1, "Kanna", 28, "Chennai");

dtKarate.Rows.Add(3, "Kavi", 27, "Ambur");

dtKarate.Rows.Add(7, "John", 24, "Velachery");

dtKarate.Rows.Add(4, "Paul",22, "Adambakkam");

dtKarate.Rows.Add(4, "Arasan", 30, "Delhi");

2. Now i am printing all the students using the Union operator.

// Printing the list of all students using Union

Console.WriteLine("\t-------------------------------");

Console.WriteLine("\tPrinting the list of all students using Union");

Console.WriteLine("\t-------------------------------");

DataTable dtBoth = dtYoga.AsEnumerable().Union(dtKarate.AsEnumerable(), DataRowComparer.Default).CopyToDataTable();

foreach (DataRow dr in dtBoth.Rows)

{

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\tStudentId: {0}, StudentName: {1}",

        dr[0].ToString(), dr[1].ToString()));

}

The output will be

3. Now here i am printing the students who enrolled only for yoga and karate class using Except operator.

// Finding out students who enrolled only to Yoga Classes using Except

DataTable dtOnlyYoga = dtYoga.AsEnumerable().Except(dtKarate.AsEnumerable(), DataRowComparer.Default).CopyToDataTable();

Console.WriteLine("\t");

Console.WriteLine("\tEnrolled Students - Only for Yoga Classes using Except");

Console.WriteLine("\t-------------------------------");

foreach (DataRow dr in dtOnlyYoga.Rows)

{

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\tStudentId: {0}, StudentName: {1}",

        dr[0].ToString(), dr[1].ToString()));

}

// Finding out students who enrolled only to Yoga Classes using Except

Console.WriteLine("\t");

Console.WriteLine("\tEnrolled Students - Only for Karate Classes using Except");

Console.WriteLine("\t-------------------------------");

DataTable dtOnlyKarate = dtKarate.AsEnumerable().Except(dtYoga.AsEnumerable(), DataRowComparer.Default).CopyToDataTable();

foreach (DataRow dr in dtOnlyKarate.Rows)

{

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\tStudentId: {0}, StudentName: {1}",

        dr[0].ToString(), dr[1].ToString()));

}

The output will look like

4. Now here i am getting the students who enrolled for both the yoga and karate class using Intersect operator.

// Finding out students who enrolled to Both Yoga Classes using Intersect

Console.WriteLine("\t");

Console.WriteLine("\tEnrolled Students - For Both Yoga & Karate Classes using Intersect");

Console.WriteLine("\t-------------------------------");

DataTable dtBothClasses = dtYoga.AsEnumerable().Intersect(dtKarate.AsEnumerable(), DataRowComparer.Default).CopyToDataTable();

foreach (DataRow dr in dtBothClasses.Rows)

{

    Console.WriteLine(string.Format("\tStudentId: {0}, StudentName: {1}",

        dr[0].ToString(), dr[1].ToString()));

}

The output will look like

You can download the entire sourcecode below.

If you like this article please share it with your friends. Do comment your thoughts and doubts if any.