Union. This C# method computes mathematical unions. This extension method, from System.Linq, acts upon 2 collections. It returns a new collection that contains the elements that are found.

Extension

Union removes duplicates. So this method can be thought of as two actions: it combines the two collections and then uses Distinct() on them, removing duplicate elements.

Distinct

First, Union() is found in System.Linq. So you will want to include the appropriate using-directive. The Union method will work with 2 collections of the same type of elements.

List

Array

using System;
using System.Linq;

// Create two example arrays.
int[] array1 = { 1, 2, 3 };
int[] array2 = { 2, 3, 4 };
// Union the two arrays.
var result = array1.Union(array2);
// Enumerate the union.
foreach (int value in result)
{
    Console.WriteLine(value);
}
1
2
3
4

Example 2. Union does not sort. The first example makes the result appear sorted, but this is due to already-sorted arrays. Here, I union two unsorted char arrays. The result is not sorted.

char Array

var

string.Join

using System;
using System.Linq;

char[] values1 = { 'a', 'z', 'c' };
char[] values2 = { 'c', 's' };
// Take union.
var result = values1.Union(values2);
Console.WriteLine(string.Join(",", result));
a,z,c,s

With Union, we combine collections. An imperative approach would involve a hash table or Dictionary. But the Union method can resolve duplicates automatically.

Please note the Intersect method. This returns only the shared elements in both collections it is called upon. It is similar to Union but with this important difference.

Intersect