I would like to be able to compare multiple strings with each other and return true if they are all equal. If any of the strings equal "N/A" then they are to be ignored in the comparison. For example:
string1 = "hi";
string2 = "hi";
string3 = "hi";
string4 = "N/A";
would return true, but:
string1 = "hi";
string2 = "hey";
string3 = "hi";
string4 = "hi";
would return false.
Thanks for your help.
if (myStrings.Where(s => s != "N/A").Distinct().Count() > 1)
Any() instead of Count().
false when one of the strings is different
Any? Distinct returns unique strings so Any would always return true.
.Skip(1).Any()Assuming that you've stored the strings in a colllection like array or list, you can use Enumerable.All:
string first = strings.FirstOrDefault(s => s != "N/A");
bool allEqual = first == null || strings.All(s => s == "N/A" || s == first);
Explanation: you can compare all strings with one of your choice(i take the first), if one is different allEqual must be false. I need to use FirstOrDefault since it's possible that all strings are "N/A" or the list is empty, then First would throw an exception.
The question is already answered but I figured I'll state the most obvious code to do this:
bool notEqual = false;
for (int i = 0; i < list.Count - 1; i++) {
for (int j = i + 1; j < list.Count; j++) {
if (!(list[i].Equals(list[j])) {
notEqual = true;
break;
}
}
}
The idea is fairly simple. With the first element, you have to look at the next (length - 1) elements. However, with the second element, you've already compared it to the first, so you look at the next (length - 2) elements. You end at length - 1 because at that point you'd compare the 2nd last and the last element, which is the final possible comparison.
By all means the above answers are far more concise/elegant. This is just to show you what's actually happening on the most rudimentary level C#-wise.
