Using LINQ to remove elements from a List<T>

Well, it would be easier to exclude them in the first place:

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => x.FirstName != "Bob").ToList();

However, that would just change the value of authorsList instead of removing the authors from the previous collection. Alternatively, you can use RemoveAll:

authorsList.RemoveAll(x => x.FirstName == "Bob");

If you really need to do it based on another collection, I'd use a HashSet, RemoveAll and Contains:

var setToRemove = new HashSet<Author>(authors);
authorsList.RemoveAll(x => setToRemove.Contains(x));

It'd be better to use List<T>.RemoveAll to accomplish this.

authorsList.RemoveAll((x) => x.firstname == "Bob");

If you really need to remove items then what about Except()? You can remove based on a new list, or remove on-the-fly by nesting the Linq.

var authorsList = new List<Author>()
{
    new Author{ Firstname = "Bob", Lastname = "Smith" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Fred", Lastname = "Jones" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Brian", Lastname = "Brains" },
    new Author{ Firstname = "Billy", Lastname = "TheKid" }
};

var authors = authorsList.Where(a => a.Firstname == "Bob");
authorsList = authorsList.Except(authors).ToList();
authorsList = authorsList.Except(authorsList.Where(a=>a.Firstname=="Billy")).ToList();

You cannot do this with standard LINQ operators because LINQ provides query, not update support.

But you can generate a new list and replace the old one.

var authorsList = GetAuthorList();

authorsList = authorsList.Where(a => a.FirstName != "Bob").ToList();

Or you could remove all items in authors in a second pass.

var authorsList = GetAuthorList();

var authors = authorsList.Where(a => a.FirstName == "Bob").ToList();

foreach (var author in authors)
{
    authorList.Remove(author);
}

Simple solution:

static void Main()
{
    List<string> myList = new List<string> { "Jason", "Bob", "Frank", "Bob" };
    myList.RemoveAll(x => x == "Bob");

    foreach (string s in myList)
    {
        //
    }
}

I was wondering, if there is any difference between RemoveAll and Except and the pros of using HashSet, so I have done quick performance check :)

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ListRemoveTest
{
    class Program
    {
        private static Random random = new Random( (int)DateTime.Now.Ticks );

        static void Main( string[] args )
        {
            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, generating data..." );

            List<string> list = new List<string>();
            List<string> toRemove = new List<string>();
            for( int x=0; x < 1000000; x++ )
            {
                string randString = RandomString( random.Next( 100 ) );
                list.Add( randString );
                if( random.Next( 1000 ) == 0 )
                    toRemove.Insert( 0, randString );
            }

            List<string> l1 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l2 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l3 = new List<string>( list );
            List<string> l4 = new List<string>( list );

            Console.WriteLine( "Be patient, testing..." );

            Stopwatch sw1 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l1.RemoveAll( toRemove.Contains );
            sw1.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw2 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l2.RemoveAll( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ).Contains );
            sw2.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw3 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l3 = l3.Except( toRemove ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();

            Stopwatch sw4 = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            l4 = l4.Except( new HashSet<string>( toRemove ) ).ToList();
            sw3.Stop();


            Console.WriteLine( "L1.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw1.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L2.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw2.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L3.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );
            Console.WriteLine( "L4.Len = {0}, Time taken: {1}ms", l1.Count, sw3.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds );

            Console.ReadKey();
        }


        private static string RandomString( int size )
        {
            StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
            char ch;
            for( int i = 0; i < size; i++ )
            {
                ch = Convert.ToChar( Convert.ToInt32( Math.Floor( 26 * random.NextDouble() + 65 ) ) );
                builder.Append( ch );
            }

            return builder.ToString();
        }
    }
}

Results below:

Be patient, generating data...
Be patient, testing...
L1.Len = 985263, Time taken: 13411.8648ms
L2.Len = 985263, Time taken: 76.4042ms
L3.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms
L4.Len = 985263, Time taken: 340.6933ms

As we can see, best option in that case is to use RemoveAll(HashSet)

This is a very old question, but I found a really simple way to do this:

authorsList = authorsList.Except(authors).ToList();

Note that since the return variable authorsList is a List<T>, the IEnumerable<T> returned by Except() must be converted to a List<T>.

You can remove in two ways

var output = from x in authorsList
             where x.firstname != "Bob"
             select x;

or

var authors = from x in authorsList
              where x.firstname == "Bob"
              select x;

var output = from x in authorsList
             where !authors.Contains(x) 
             select x;

I had same issue, if you want simple output based on your where condition , then first solution is better.

Say that authorsToRemove is an IEnumerable<T> that contains the elements you want to remove from authorsList.

Then here is another very simple way to accomplish the removal task asked by the OP:

authorsList.RemoveAll(authorsToRemove.Contains);

I think you could do something like this

    authorsList = (from a in authorsList
                  where !authors.Contains(a)
                  select a).ToList();

Although I think the solutions already given solve the problem in a more readable way.

Below is the example to remove the element from the list.

 List<int> items = new List<int>() { 2, 2, 3, 4, 2, 7, 3,3,3};

 var result = items.Remove(2);//Remove the first ocurence of matched elements and returns boolean value
 var result1 = items.RemoveAll(lst => lst == 3);// Remove all the matched elements and returns count of removed element
 items.RemoveAt(3);//Removes the elements at the specified index

LINQ has its origins in functional programming, which emphasises immutability of objects, so it doesn't provide a built-in way to update the original list in-place.

Note on immutability (taken from another SO answer):

Here is the definition of immutability from Wikipedia.

In object-oriented and functional programming, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be modified after it is created.

i think you just have to assign the items from Author list to a new list to take that effect.

//assume oldAuthor is the old list
Author newAuthorList = (select x from oldAuthor where x.firstname!="Bob" select x).ToList();
oldAuthor = newAuthorList;
newAuthorList = null;

To keep the code fluent (if code optimisation is not crucial) and you would need to do some further operations on the list:

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => x.FirstName != "Bob").<do_some_further_Linq>;

or

authorsList = authorsList.Where(x => !setToRemove.Contains(x)).<do_some_further_Linq>;